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 Ascension and the Day of Pentecost: The Kingdom’s Cosmic Authority, Acts 1:6-11; 2:32-36; Ephesians 1:20-23
Jesus of Nazareth is the Lord’s Chosen One, the Messiah, whose incarnation, death, and resurrection reveal Him as King and Lord of all. At His ascension He redirected His disciples from speculating about Kingdom timetables to receiving the Spirit’s power for their worldwide witness, and then ascended into heaven, promising to return in the same way. On the day of Pentecost, Peter proclaimed that the risen Jesus, exalted to God’s right hand, had received the promised Spirit and poured Him out, proving that God has made Him both Lord and Christ. In the same way, Paul declared that God raised Christ and seated Him far above every power and name, put all things under His feet, and gave Him as Head over all things to the Church, which is His body and fullness.
Our Focus Today
The Kingdom’s Timetable Belongs to the Father, Acts 1:6–7
When the disciples asked Jesus whether He would then restore the Kingdom to Israel, He told them that the times and seasons rest in the Father’s own purpose and authority, something that was not theirs to know. God sovereignly governs the timing of the Kingdom’s consummation, so we need never trade speculations about the divine calendar for faithful obedience to the King in the present.
Invocation
Sovereign Father, quiet my anxious thoughts and restless desires to know what You have chosen to keep about the fulfillment of Your Kingdom within Your own authority. Teach me to follow Your Son, to trust Your wisdom, Your purposes, and Your perfect timing. Fix my entire attention upon my service to Jesus my King, and empower me today to obey Him faithfully, leaving my tomorrows securely in His will and hands. 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: 1 Cor. 8.1-11.1
Psalms and Proverb for Today
These Scriptures allow us to read through the Psalms and Proverbs each month.
Monday: Psalm 19, 49, 79, 109, 139 and Proverbs 19
The Kingdom’s Timetable Belongs to the Father, Acts 1:6–7
When the disciples asked Jesus whether He would then restore the Kingdom to Israel, He told them that the times and seasons rest in the Father’s own purpose and authority, something that was not theirs to know. God sovereignly governs the timing of the Kingdom’s consummation, so we need never trade speculations about the divine calendar for faithful obedience to the King in the present.
Reflection
God has reserved the Kingdom’s timetable within His own sovereign authority. Jesus redirected the attention of His followers after His appearances from calculating what God has concealed toward obeying the Kingdom’s mandate, the mission that God commanded for global evangelism. We must live faithfully by trusting the Father with our tomorrows, all the while giving ourselves wholeheartedly to the King’s mission today.
Engaging God’s Word Today
Where might my desire to know what God will do tomorrow be distracting me from obeying what Christ has clearly called me to do today?
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
May You Father, the God who holds all times and seasons in His sovereign hands free me from any anxious speculation about end times and strengthen me for faithful obedience to Your will right here and now. Lord Jesus, You are my King. Keep me watchful, hopeful, and steadfast in Your mission until the Father’s appointed purposes are fulfilled in me and His Kingdom comes in all its fullness. Make me Your servant. 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
What does this have to do with the Kingdom of God? Just this: the Kingdom of God belongs to The Age to Come. Yet The Age to Come has overlapped with This Age. We may taste its powers and thereby be delivered from This Age and no longer live in conformity to it. This new transforming power is the power of The Age to Come; it is indeed the power of the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God is future, but it is not only future. Like the powers of The Age to Come, the Kingdom of God has invaded this evil Age that men may know something of its blessings even while the evil Age goes on.
Perhaps the most important scripture expounding the fundamental character of the Kingdom of God is 1 Cor. 15: 22-26. “For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.” In this passage Paul is describing the various stages by which God will accomplish His redemptive purpose. This purpose has to do with the Kingdom of God. The ultimate objective is the accomplishment of God’s Kingdom, i.e., the realization of God’s perfect reign in all the universe. This is accomplished by the defeat of His enemies. Christ must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. When these enemies are at last subdued, Christ will hand over the Kingdom to God. The Kingdom of God therefore is the reign of God through Christ destroying the enemies of God’s reign.
~ 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 515-22.
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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