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 on the Cross: The Kingdom’s Triumph Over Satan and Sin, Mark 15:21-40; Colossians 2:13-15
On Calvary’s Cross, that which looked like defeat was nothing other than the victorious engagement of the King against the powers of Satan and the guilt of sin. Christ’s death effected the King’s complete answer to the sin question through the ages. His shed blood erased the charge against us and shattered the dominion and domination of the Enemy. Now, through the death of the King on His Cross, the Church can live and operate as victorious agents of the Kingdom’s inbreaking, not simply hoping for victory but as those who are experiencing it, declaring His victory already won, living free from condemnation, unafraid of the powers and their effects, and living boldly to proclaim the victory and strength of the once crucified King who now reigns at God’s right hand.
Our Focus Today
The Opened Way and the Gathered Witnesses, Mark 15:38–40
After the death of Jesus on the Cross, the temple curtain was torn from top to bottom, the centurion confessed that He was truly the Son of God, and the faithful women watched the scene from afar. These things signified that the Cross was God’s way of opening a new way into His presence for all people and nations through the crucified King.
Invocation
Thank You Father that You sent Your Son into the world that we might live through Him. You are the God of the torn veil, for through Jesus of Nazareth You flung open the way into your presence through His death. We come with boldness, unhindered and unafraid, drawn near by the Blood of the Savior. Give us the eyes of the centurion to confess Him, and the faithfulness of the women to keep watch. Gather us now, from near and far, around Your 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.
Saturday: Acts 10-12
Psalms and Proverb for Today
These Scriptures allow us to read through the Psalms and Proverbs each month.
Saturday: Psalm 10, 40, 70, 100, 130 and Proverbs 10
The Opened Way and the Gathered Witnesses, Mark 15:38–40
After the death of Jesus on the Cross, the temple curtain was torn from top to bottom, the centurion confessed that He was truly the Son of God, and the faithful women watched the scene from afar. These things signified that the Cross was God’s way of opening a new way into His presence for all people and nations through the crucified King.
Reflection
The death of Jesus dramatically impacted how humankind can approach a new relationship to God. His Cross opened a new way to God once closed to us, especially those of us who are not of the lineage and family of Abraham. What the veil had guarded only for the high priest as a representative to enter once a year, the Cross of Jesus flung open. Ironically, one of the first to confess Jesus as God’s Son was a Gentile soldier, a living example and proof that this new door stands open to all. Now, through Christ, let everyone who wills approach God with boldness and welcome for none who come will now be excluded.
Engaging God’s Word Today
The Cross opened a way to God and His Kingdom for the unlikeliest of witnesses at its scene: a Roman soldier and watching women! Whom might God be calling you to welcome through this same open door, and where can you express better this open approach to the Father?
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, Lord Jesus Christ, that through Your death You have opened to the world a new and living way to Your Father. I come to You now through this new, open way the Cross has torn. The veil is rent, the path to God stands clear, and no one is excluded from His presence. Draw me near to You as I boldly come, and fling wide the door to those among my family and friends who need to know You. And may You, our crucified King, the same Lord who gathers the nations to Himself, keep me faithful in watching and bold in welcome. Amen.
Scripture Memory for this season
Rev. 21:1-5, Creation’s Groaning: The Kingdom’s Cosmic Scope
1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” 5 And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”
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)
• Kingdom, Church and World: Biblical Themes for Today, Howard Snyder (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: The Gospel of the Kingdom
Fundamentally, as we have seen, the Kingdom of God is God’s sovereign reign; but God’s reign expresses itself in different stages through redemptive history. Therefore, men may enter into the realm of God’s reign in its several stages of manifestation and experience the blessings of His reign in differing degrees. God’s Kingdom is the realm of the Age to Come, popularly called heaven; then we shall realize the blessings of His Kingdom (reign) in the perfection of their fulness. But the Kingdom is here now. There is a realm of spiritual blessing into which we may enter today and enjoy in part but in reality the blessings of God’s Kingdom (reign).
We pray, “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” The confidence that this prayer is to be answered when God brings human history to the divinely ordained consummation enables the Christian to retain his balance and sanity of mind in this mad world in which we live. Our hearts go out to those who have no such hope. Thank God, His Kingdom is coming, and it will fill all the earth.
But when we pray, “Thy Kingdom come,” we also ask that God’s will be done here and now, today. This is the primary concern of these expositions, that the reader might meet the Kingdom of God, or rather, that the Kingdom of God might meet him. We should also pray, “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done” in my church as it is in heaven. The life and fellowship of a Christian church ought to be a fellowship of people among whom God’s will is done—a bit of heaven on earth. “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done” in my life, as it is in heaven. This is included in our prayer for the coming of the Kingdom. This is part of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God.
~ Ladd, George Eldon. The Gospel of the Kingdom. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids, MI: 2000. Electronic Edition (copyright © 1959, The Paternoster Press), Location 223-226.
On Eagles Wings Prayer Focus: A Long Time Comin‘
The Ascension and the Day of Pentecost: The Kingdom’s Cosmic Authority, Acts 1:6-11; 2:32-36, Eph. 1:20-23
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