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 13: Lent — The Temptation of the King, Matt. 4:1-11
Immediately after receiving the Father’s acknowledgment of himself as the beloved Son of God, the Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness into a direct confrontation with the devil revealing that Jesus’ messianic mission and kingship will be made known in his unwavering obedience to the Father’s will, and not by privilege or power. True kingdom authority is rooted in surrendering obedience to the Father’s will, and never in the seizure of power. Every shortcut to glory that bypasses God’s appointed path is an act of idolatry, no matter how reasonable it may appear. When we prove faithful in our tests, refusing to act in the flesh to manipulate our circumstances and instead trusting in God’s Word and timing, we follow in the same pattern Jesus demonstrated in his trials on earth.
Our Focus Today
The Spirit-Led Testing of the Son of God, Matt. 4:1-2
The Holy Spirit deliberately drives Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil, showing how this spiritual opposition was a divinely ordained proving ground where the Father’s beloved Son showed his loyalty to God’s purposes, holding firm even under the severest conditions of physical hardship and satanic assault.
Invocation
Father, as I worship you today and enter into your Word, remind me again that you are sovereign over every wilderness temptation we as your people face. By your Spirit, open up my mind and heart to see that my seasons of testing are proving grounds of your grace, and that you are shaping me even as you shaped your beloved Son. 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: Josh. 15-17
Psalms and Proverb for Today
These Scriptures allow us to read through the Psalms and Proverbs each month.
Monday: Psalm 23, 53, 83, 113, 143 and Proverbs 23
The Spirit-Led Testing of the Son of God, Matt. 4:1-2
The Holy Spirit deliberately drives Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil, showing how this spiritual opposition was a divinely ordained proving ground where the Father’s beloved Son showed his loyalty to God’s purposes, holding firm even under the severest conditions of physical hardship and satanic assault.
Reflection
The Spirit’s leading of Jesus into the wilderness shows us that the that seasons of intense testing are part of the journey of those who follow Christ. Such tests are not signs that God has abandoned us; on the contrary, God uses them in his divine purpose to train and strengthen us. God ordains proving grounds where our allegiance to him is refined precisely at the point of our deepest vulnerability. When we recognize that our trials are superintended by the same Spirit who led the Son, we can endure difficulty and opposition with confidence being assured that the Father is forging in us that same fortitude Jesus had in his journey, the kind of faithfulness that no adversary can overthrow.
Engaging God’s Word Today
When you find yourself in a season of spiritual testing marked by deprivation, loneliness, or sustained opposition, are you able to discern the Spirit’s leading behind the trial? How can your understanding of God’s leading in your wilderness experience reshape the way you respond to your situation and the adversary’s assaults?
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
Now may the same Holy Spirit who led Jesus of Nazareth into the wilderness lead me through every trial I face with unwavering trust and genuine humility. May you be glorified in all I encounter today and let me go forth knowing that my seasons of testing are held in the Father’s sovereign hand. The same one who was faithful to his own beloved Son will also prove faithful to us as we believe in him. Amen.
Scripture Memory for this season
Matt. 11:2-6 (ESV): The Messiah’s Healing of the Sick: The Kingdom’s Compassion
2 Now when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples 3 and said to him, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” 4 And Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: 5 the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. 6 And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”
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: Destined for the Throne
(Reading “Destined for the Throne” during season of Epiphany, Lent, Holy Week, and Resurrection)
“The Celestial Wedding And The Beginning Of God’s Eternal Enterprise.
As in the case of Adam, God saw that it was not good for his Son to be alone. From the very beginning it was God’s plan and purpose that out of the riven side of his Son should come an Eternal Companion to sit by his side upon the throne of the universe as a bona fide partner, a judicial equal, to share with him his sovereign power and authority over his eternal kingdom. “Fear not little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom” (Luke 12:32). “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame and am set down with my Father in his throne” (Rev. 3:21).
To be given the kingdom is more than to internalize kingdom principles and ethics. That is only one phase of it. To be given a kingdom is to be made a king, to be invested with authority over a kingdom. That this is God’s glorious purpose for the church is authenticated and confirmed by Paul in 1 Corinthians 6:2-3: “Do you not know that the saints shall judge the world? . . . Know ye not that we shall judge angels?” This is an earnest of what Jesus meant when he said, “The glory that thou gavest me I have given them” (John 17:22).
This royalty and rulership is no hollow, empty, figurative, symbolic, or emblematic thing. It is not a figment of the imagination. The Church, the Bride, the Eternal Companion, is to sit with him on his throne. If this throne represents reality, then hers is no fantasy. Neither joint heir can do anything alone (Romans 8:17).
We may not know why it pleases the Father to give the kingdom to the little flock. We may not know why Christ chooses to share his throne and his glory with the redeemed. We only know that he has chosen to do so and that it gives him pleasure.”
~ Billheimer, Paul. Destined for the Throne: How Spiritual Warfare Prepares the Bride of Christ for Her Eternal Destiny. Bethany House Publishers, Minneapolis: MN, 1975, 1996. Electronic Edition, location 26-27.
On Eagles Wings Prayer Focus: A Long Time Comin‘
The Messiah Provides Sight, John 9:1-41
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