Kingdom Come: Announcement


Luke begins chapter 3 by establishing the time when John the Baptist began his ministry.  He said it was in the fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar.  That was all he had to say to establish the time, because everyone knew when that was.  But he went on to list many other leaders, including governors and high priests.  Why did he do that?

Maybe it was because these are the kinds of people the world listens to.  They're the people in power, who appear to be "calling the shots."  They have many messages that they want us to hear.  

But in that time, an obscure person whom these leaders would have considered a nobody had the most important message of all.  This message was the word of the Lord, and it came to John, son of Zechariah.  The message was that God's king, the Messiah, was about to appear in the world, and God's people needed to prepare!

Today, that message comes to us.  We need to prepare the way for the coming of the Lord into our hearts.  We need to put aside those things that distract and take us away from the Lord.  There are lots of those in the Christmas season!  We need to hear the message and welcome Christ to be Lord of our lives.

Once we do that, we're to become proclaimers of that message.  We're to tell the world in word and deed that the Messiah has come to the world in the person of Jesus Christ, comes to us today through the Holy Spirit, and will come at the end of the world to reign over the earth!

Hear God’s word.  Prepare the way for the king to enter your heart and reign there.  Then proclaim that word to the world, and, like John, be someone who makes people ready for the coming king!

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