MS Christian

The Kingdom of God, the Church, and Jesus Christ

Written by Gary Piper

 “Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NET) are from the NET Bible® copyright © 1996-2006 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. www.bible.org. All rights reserved.”  

 John the Baptist said:

“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” (Matthew 3:2)

Jesus said:

“The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed, nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is in your midst.”  (Luke 17:20 – 17:21)

I believe Jesus did not come to build a church but to build a Kingdom, but not just any Kingdom a Heavenly Kingdom built one person at a time.  I believe many of the difficulties facing the Christian Community is directly related to the time, energy, and resources used to build up our own individual church organizations rather than building up One Kingdom with One Throne Room.  

In the early 1970’s I began an in depth exploration into the history of my church and in response to that exploration I began a historical sponge.  At that point in my life my church began the center of my spiritual life.  Then one day I believe God spoke to my spirit telling me that I was learning more about my church than I was learning about Jesus.  He went on telling me that for me Jesus was beginning to take the identity of church.  Basically what I was doing re-creating Jesus into the image of my church.  I vowed from then on to learn as much as I could about Jesus.  A vow to this day I still base my life on.