When Jesus came, as prophesied in this passage by John the Baptist, he ignited a kingdom fire. This was much more than a social or a political restructuring so that people could have better lives. This kingdom fire came to work from the inside out. It starts with the heart, then moves outward into actions and lastly into social and political structures.
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Igniting the Kingdom
• Scott Boren
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When Jesus came, as prophesied in this passage by John the Baptist, he ignited a kingdom fire. This was much more than a social or a political restructuring so that people could have better lives. This kingdom fire came to work from the inside out. It starts with the heart, then moves outward into actions and lastly into social and political structures.
However, we often settle for less than this kingdom fire. We settle for doing good things in life. There are many honorable and necessary things that we can do, many of which seek to produce good results. We can volunteer in community organizations, develop companies to produce environmentally friendly products, work on political agendas and many other good things. The problem comes when we start to associate any one of these things or causes with the Kingdom of God. When we do this, we don’t feel the need for the kingdom fire to burn within us.
This kingdom fire comes through the Holy Spirit baptism. We see in the following verses three ignition traits of the kingdom fire.
- Luke 3:21-22 highlights God’s blessing, which is the first trait of kingdom ignition. When the Holy Spirit fire comes, he burns up ugliness and ignites God-granted beauty.
- Luke 4:1 illustrates how God’s leading occurs in our lives. The Holy Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness and he leads us in such a way as to burn up confusion and ignite confidence.
- Luke 4:14 narrates how God’s power was manifest through Jesus. The Holy Spirit empowers people to live beyond fear and move into the authority of God.
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Focus Scripture:
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Luke 3:15-18
The people were waiting expectantly and were all wondering in their hearts if John might possibly be the Christ. John answered them all, "I baptize you with water. But one more powerful than I will come, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." And with many other words John exhorted the people and preached the good news to them.
