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
The Messiah’s Miracles and Healings: The Kingdom’s Power Over Creation, Mark 4:35-41; 6:30-44
Jesus of Nazareth is Lord over creation, including every force that would intimidate and frighten us and every lack and need that would hinder and limit us. His command over the storm reveals his authority to silence the storms that come up on the seas of our lives, showing his innate power to still our chaos, both on the seas and in our hearts. His multiplication of the loaves and fish reveal his sovereignty over what appears to be insurmountable shortages, putting on full display his power to supply our need even in the face of impossible odds. Let us, then, live free trusting in his authority as Lord, not yielding to fear or temptation as a victim of our circumstances, but as his faithful disciples and trusting children of the King who commands creation over both wind and bread.
Our Focus Today
The Compassion of the Lord Our Shepherd, Mark 6:34
Seeing the crowd “like sheep without a shepherd,” Jesus is moved with compassion and first feeds them with his teaching, revealing himself as the promised Shepherd-King. The Kingdom of God is animated by this Christ-shaped compassion for the lost and leaderless, and those who serve his flock feed his sheep with both truth and with bread.
Invocation
Lord Jesus, our Good Shepherd, creation’s Lord and King, you see us in our wandering and want, and you are moved with compassion for us. Look upon us now in our need and feed us with the truth of your Word. Give us hearts that share your mercy, that we might see others as you see them. Shepherd us and make us shepherds after your own heart. 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.
Thursday: Dan. 7-8; Dan. 5
Psalms and Proverb for Today
These Scriptures allow us to read through the Psalms and Proverbs each month.
Thursday: Psalm 6, 36, 66, 96, 126 and Proverbs 6
The Compassion of the Lord Our Shepherd, Mark 6:34
Seeing the crowd “like sheep without a shepherd,” Jesus is moved with compassion and first feeds them with his teaching, revealing himself as the promised Shepherd-King. The Kingdom of God is animated by this Christ-shaped compassion for the lost and leaderless, and those who serve his flock feed his sheep with both truth and with bread.
Reflection
Jesus looks upon the lost and leaderless with a compassion that moves him to act to address their needs, both physical and spiritual. As the true Shepherd, he meets the deepest hunger first, feeding his people with the truth of his Word. As those who follow him and serve his flock, we are likewise called to the same Christ-shaped mercy and compassion in dealing with people. We must see their real needs, both physical and spiritual, and nourish them with both the bread of teaching and the bread of care.
Engaging God’s Word Today
When you look at the people around you, do you see them as Jesus does — as sheep in need of a shepherd, and how might his compassion in us reshape the way we both observe them and actually serve them?
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, Holy Spirit, that you desire to reproduce in me the same heart of compassion revealed in our Lord. I trust in you today to lead me and to shape me to be more like him. I leave this time under the care of the Shepherd who never turns away from those who need his care. Let his compassion fill my heart, and show me how my life can be used to feed his flock with both truth and love. As you have shepherded me by your mercy, dear Lord, enable me to go and shepherd others in your name, serving them in your strength alone. Amen.
Scripture Memory for this season
Eph. 1:20-23, The Ascension and the Day of Pentecost: The Kingdom’s Cosmic Authority
20 that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. 22 And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
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 season of Epiphany)
• The Presence of the Future, George Eldon Ladd (during seasons of Lent, Holy Week, Easter and Ascension)
• Who Gets to Narrate the World?, Robert E. Webber (during seasons of the Coming of the Holy Spirit, and Headship)
• Thy Kingdom Come, Rev. Terry Cornett and Dr. Don Davis (during season of 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 “Who Gets to Narrate the World?” during season of Coming of the Holy Spirit and Headship)
“American narcissism also makes a claim to domination—domination of our spiritual world. I am the center of my own universe. I am the creator and sustainer of my own private reality; everything revolves around my happiness, my well-being, my personal satisfaction. Even Christians reduce Jesus and the Christian faith to a means of securing our own happiness, instead of rightly recognizing and living our lives in joyful obedience to the One who made us in his image and sustains us for his purposes in the world.
If the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is indeed involved in the re-creation of the world, in winning it back from the evil one, then Christians must go back to the Garden of Eden and reclaim God’s original purposes for creatures and creation. We are the image-bearers of God, and we have been given the task of making this world the theater of God’s glory. It is not only the inner chamber of the heart that should glow with the presence of God, but our culture too—our cities, our civilization, the whole of life. Today, the Christian faith has lost its cosmic narrative.
So, Christians must recover this cosmic dimension of the faith, especially in the face of the threat of the whole world being under either Islamic law or the spell of narcissistic American consumerism.”
~ Webber, Robert E. Who Gets to Narrate the World?: Contending for the Christian Story in an Age of Rivals. InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove, IL: 2008. Electronic Edition. Location 952.
On Eagles Wings Prayer Focus: A Long Time Comin‘
The Messiah’s Miracles and Healings: The Kingdom’s Power Over Creation, Mark 4:35-41; 6:30-44
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