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 Resurrection of the Messiah: The Kingdom’s Victory Over Death, Mark 16:1-8; 1 Corinthians 15:20-28
The resurrection of Christ is the centerpiece of God’s manifestation of His Kingdom purpose and victory. It announces clearly to all who will listen the decisive first victory of God’s Kingdom over the Curse of the Fall, of the effects and judgment of sin, of the tyranny of Satan and evil, and the last enemy of death itself. Because Jesus the Messiah-King has risen, ascended, and reigns now, no evil nor grave, no failure nor fear can ever pronounce the final word over those who belong to Him through grace. Now, we have been set free to live, serve, and witness boldly today, confident that the risen and reigning King alone guarantees tomorrow’s complete triumph.
Our Focus Today
The Stone Already Rolled Away: Faithful Devotion Meets God’s Prior Action, Mark 16:1–4
On the day of our Lord’s resurrection, the women came in grief to anoint the dead body of Jesus and worried about how they would move the intimidating stone. The Lord, however, came before them, and had already removed it! God is always our contemporary and we can be assured that faithful disciples who serve through sorrow will find the Lord has gone ahead of them and removed the obstacles they could not move, having acted according to His word.
Invocation
Faithful God, Who through history has always gone before Your people to prepare their way, meet us now as we come to Your Word. Like the women who came to the tomb at dawn on the day of the resurrection, so we too bring our devotion, our grief, and our worries about stones we cannot move. Give us a new spirit of faith and confidence in Who You are and what You will provide. Lift up our eyes to see what You have already done, and fill us with confidence to wait upon You. Through Jesus, our risen Lord, 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: Gal. 1.1-4.7
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 Stone Already Rolled Away: Faithful Devotion Meets God’s Prior Action, Mark 16:1–4
On the day of our Lord’s resurrection, the women came in grief to anoint the dead body of Jesus and worried about how they would move the intimidating stone. The Lord, however, came before them, and had already removed it! God is always our contemporary and we can be assured that faithful disciples who serve through sorrow will find the Lord has gone ahead of them and removed the obstacles they could not move, having acted according to His Word.
Reflection
The Lord is our contemporary, always before us, always anticipating our futures and our destinies. God honors faithful devotion even when our understanding is incomplete and our hearts are heavy. The obstacles that so often loom largest in our minds are the very ones He has already removed according to His Word. So, let us keep walking toward our calling in obedience, acting on His Word according to His will, anticipating to see what the living Lord has done ahead of us, to prepare the way before us.
Engaging God’s Word Today
What “stone” are you anxiously discussing on the road right now, with your family, friends, or colleagues, that you fret you will not be able to overcome, once you reach your destination? What would it look like for you and your colleagues to keep walking in faithful obedience, pursuing what God has called you to do, waiting on Him who is always your contemporary, to see what He has already done ahead of you?
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
No one can anticipate fully the work that You have done beforehand to prepare our way before us. You have been the faithful God of the patriarchs and of Your people, providing, blessing, and guiding them into Your will. Help us to go now in Your peace, confident that You indeed are the God who acts before we arrive to our destinations. Risen Lord Jesus, honor our faithful service through every sorrow, remove the stones we cannot move, and lift up our eyes to see Your mighty hand at work. Enable us to walk forward in obedience, assured that You will keep Your Word for You have already gone before us. 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
Here is the root of evil: blindness, darkness, unbelief. The Biblical philosophy of sin makes ethical and moral evil secondary to religious evil. Paul elsewhere refers to the “ungodliness and wickedness of men” (Rom. 1: 18). All forms of wickedness ultimately grow out of the root of ungodliness. Sin is primarily religious and secondarily ethical. Man is God’s creature and his primary responsibility is towards God. The root of sin is found in his refusal to acknowledge in grateful dependence the gifts and the goodness of God (Rom. 1: 21), which are now imparted in Christ. Darkness is the assertion of independence rather than God-dependence.
The primary manifestation of satanic influence and of the evil of This Age is religious; it is blindness with reference to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. How often we fail to understand satanic devices! A man may be a cultured, ethical and even religious person and yet be in demonic darkness. Satan’s basic desire is to keep men from Christ. His primary concern is not to corrupt morals nor to make atheists nor to produce enemies of religion. Indeed religion which rests upon the assumption of human adequacy and sufficiency is an enemy of the light. This is the character of the Age of this world: darkness.
It is obvious from these verses that the Kingdom of God does not belong to This Age, for Satan is called the god of This Age. This is not to suggest that God has been dethroned or His hand removed from the control of the universe. It remains eternally true that “The Lord has established his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom rules over all” (Ps. 103: 19). Even when evil is strongest on the earth, when God’s people are most violently attacked by Satan, God is still the “King of the ages” (Rev. 15: 3).6 It is in the providence of God’s sovereign rule that this state of affairs has come to pass. It is, however, basic to our understanding of the Kingdom of God to recognize the Biblical teaching that This Age is in rebellion against God’s rule.
~ 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 345.
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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