Luke 13 18 Then Jesus asked, “What is the kingdom of God like? What shall I compare it to? 19 It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his garden. It grew and became a tree, and the birds perched in its branches.” 20 Again he asked, “What shall I compare the kingdom of God to? 21 It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds[a] of flour until it worked all through the dough.” Kingdom of God is like Hidden treasure A Fine pearl Its like a net, full of fish

Those who do not allow God to be King of their life can hardly expect to be part of his Kingdom. First proclamation by Israel “The Lord reigns     for ever and ever.” Exodus 15 v 18 God then gave them the laws of his Kingdom. Torah. Then he looked to win a land for them. The first picture of the Kingdom of God in the OT is that of the Kingdom ‘forged’

Appointed Kings of the Kingdom 6 “I have installed my king     on Zion, my holy mountain.” 7 I will proclaim the Lord’s decree: He said to me, “You are my son;     today I have become your father. 8 Ask me,     and I will make the nations your inheritance,     the ends of the earth your possession. Psalm 2 The Kingdom wasn’t simply to be restored, it was to be better than it had been before

ISAIAH 11 A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;     from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. 2 The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—     the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,     the Spirit of counsel and of might,     the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord— 3 and he will delight in the fear of the Lord. He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes,     or decide by what he hears with his ears; 4 but with righteousness he will judge the needy,     with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth.

LUKE 4 16 Jesus went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, 17 and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: 18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me,     because he has anointed me     to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners     and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, 19     to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”[f] 20 Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. 21 He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

If Jesus has conquered sin, why do we still have to battle with it? If Jesus reigns why are our own lives often like roller coasters? Was Jesus being overly optimistic? Did he jump the gun? Has the Kingdom experiment failed? We are in ‘The Now and Not Yet of the Kingdom’