Luke 13:18-21 has recorded two brief but profound parables that describe the dynamic power of the kingdom of God. Notice how Jesus introduced each of these prophetic pictures with a question:

Then Jesus asked, "What is the kingdom of God like? What shall I compare it to? It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his garden. It grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air perched in its branches." Again he asked, "What shall I compare the kingdom of God to? It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough."

Embedded in these windows into truth are the kingdom principles underlying the theme for 2003: A Year of Increase.

• Principle #1: The kingdom of God is centered in the ordinary. When we are looking for signs of the activity of the kingdom, we are frequently tempted to look for the extraordinary. However, we might be more successful if we would pay more attention to the ordinary. Likewise, we are enamored of those things that appear powerful to us when, in fact, the kingdom most frequently turns up in the weak and powerless. Consider Paul's words to the church at Corinth:
  
  

  Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: "Let him who boasts boast in the Lord."

  This should be a great encouragement to us, an outwardly ordinary, powerless church that can, in fact, be an extraordinarily powerful force for God’s kingdom.

• Principle #2: The kingdom of God develops organically. In our twenty-first-century American culture, we are immersed in a success model that is basically mechanical in nature, an ethos that has permeated the church as well. Oftentimes both the methodologies and measures for a successful church have been reduced to an organizational and mechanical framework. While there is certainly value in healthy functional systems and strategies, they must flow out of an organic dynamic if they are to be truly and lastingly fruitful. This is illustrated with great clarity in John 15 where Jesus teaches His disciples about the vine and the branches.
  
  

  "I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me."
  
  "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing."

  This is a key to kingdom life. It is only as we abide in Him that we will experience true life and be a life-giving people.

• Principle #3: The kingdom of God is dynamically changing. This is another significant reality of the kingdom, which we as a church have embedded in our foundational principles and values as the phrase that “change is normal, continual, and expected.” One of the biological definitions of death is an organism that is no longer changing. As human beings, we naturally value security and stability, and this is both normal and to an extent necessary. However, the challenge comes when we elevate these natural desires to rigid goals and attempt to enshrine the status quo: as it has been, so it should always be. Jesus addresses this attitude head-on when He says:
  
  

  He told them this parable: "No one tears a patch from a new garment and sews it on an old one. If he does, he will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old. And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins. And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for he says, 'The old is better.' "

  Jesus understands that our natural human response to change is often “the old is better.” However, He warns us that we must be flexible and pliable if we are to experience the full dynamic of the power and blessing of the kingdom.

• Principle #4: The kingdom is continually growing and expanding. Jesus said, “From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing” (Matthew 11:12). At times the church at large can slip into a defensive and defeatist posture, particularly when the focus becomes the obstacles and challenges in the culture around us. However, the fact of the matter is that the kingdom of God is advancing, not retreating, and “The gates of Hades will not prevail against His church.” (Matthew 16:18). In saying the kingdom is like a mustard seed, Jesus actually drew on a prophetic promise from Ezekiel 17:22-24:
  
  

  " 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I myself will take a shoot from the very top of a cedar and plant it; I will break off a tender sprig from its topmost shoots and plant it on a high and lofty mountain. On the mountain heights of Israel I will plant it; it will produce branches and bear fruit and become a splendid cedar. Birds of every kind will nest in it; they will find shelter in the shade of its branches. All the trees of the field will know that I the LORD bring down the tall tree and make the low tree grow tall. I dry up the green tree and make the dry tree flourish. I the LORD have spoken, and I will do it.' "

  Here is the kingdom promise, a promise of growth and expansion, a promise we can expect to be fulfilled in and through us today.

• Principle #5: The kingdom of God has a large impact. Though at first glance the work of the kingdom may seem small and insignificant, like yeast in dough, it ultimately permeates everything it touches. And as we see in the scriptural record, what began as 120 gathered in an upper room in Jerusalem will one day encompass multitudes from every tribe, tongue, and nation. As the apostle John saw in Revelation 7:9-12:
  
  

  After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: "Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb." All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying: "Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!"

  This is the ultimate fulfillment of our destiny as the people of God’s kingdom. Though at times we may individually and even corporately feel small and insignificant, in reality we are having a greater impact than we can even comprehend as a part of His worldwide House of Prayer for All Nations.

These then are the kingdom principles underlying the prophetic theme for 2003: A Year of Increase. As we continue to walk ahead into the Year of Opportunity: 2009, I believe that we can EXPECT increase, both in the depth and breadth of the expansion of His kingdom among us. So I challenge us to be attentive to the markers and signs of His kingdom around us and be prepared to step into the opportunities He has already prepared fur us. As we do, this year—2009—will also be a Year of Increase.

--Pastor Jim