Key Verse: Matthew
4:19
Big Idea: Jesus
the King came to call people to build a kingdom, not of swords and castles, but
of people.
Sometimes, everything changes in an instant. Peter and
Andrew were throwing a net into the sea, the familiar smells and sounds of the
busy lake all around them. They had been fishermen their entire lives, their
sons would be fishermen, and their sons after them. Their lives must have
seemed so predictable, but they also knew things were changing. Peter and
Andrew had been baptized by John, and knew the One He had preached about who
would baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire.
They never could have dreamed that their whole lives would
never be the same, because that One would walk up to them and say “Follow me,
and I will make you fishers of people!”
At the beginning of the chapter, Jesus was tempted by the
devil for 40 days, and was offered all kinds of physical things: food, pride
and political power. But Jesus quoted the Bible each time, to show that His
Kingdom would be a different kind of Kingdom. It was not about visible
greatness, but about a Kingdom built in the Spirit out of men, women, boys and
girls. This Kingdom would not be won with guns or swords, but with the Word of
God and His power.
Older kids: Point out how the Crusades and other attempts to force people to become Christians missed the whole point, because God’s reign has to be accomplished on the inside.
Older kids: Point out how the Crusades and other attempts to force people to become Christians missed the whole point, because God’s reign has to be accomplished on the inside.
Jesus was launching an invasion. He was breaking down the
enemy strongholds of sickness, sin and, ultimately, death.
Discussion idea: How do Christians or churches sometimes get caught up in the temptation to build a physical kind of Kingdom?
Prayer focus: Whenever Jesus was tempted, He quoted the Bible. Pray for a commitment to Bible reading and prayer, to have the equipment needed to do the work to which Jesus has called us.
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