{{2013_04_29_t1.jpg}} {{2013_04_29_t2.jpg}} {{2013_04_29_t3.jpg}} [[http://www.jesusnetwork.eu/de/doku.php/jn_de_2013_04_29|Deutsche Version]] [[Start|| Wiki Start]] [[topics_collection_v|| Topics Collection v ]] ======Growth of God's Kingdom ...====== Monday, April 29, 2013. In the New Testament Jesus gives us several parables about the growth of God's kingdom. You can find them in the gospel of Luke, for example. God's kingdom is like {{2013_04_29.jpg }} **Parables ...** Let us briefly browse into the biblical words, into Jesus's words: 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 poundsa of flour until it worked all through the dough.”(Luke 13) Jesus is searching for images which are attractive to the people around him. He compares the kingdom of God to very ordinary things - to clarify particular points. {{ 2013_04_29_2.jpg}} How clear are these parables to us. When I look into my own past and my own understanding, I have to admit that they seemed clear in some parts of my life, but they are mysterious again and again ... when ever I think again I seem to learn more about the kingdom of God. **Grasp the growth of God's Kingdom ...** God's kingdom is not easy to grasp. It is not a kingdom which you could touch. You can touch it by touching people, who follow the Lord. But you cannot find his kingdom realized like a worldly kingdom. It is muc more involved. It is a kingdom of hearts, a kingdom of minds, a kingdom of the spirit! God's kingdom seems to be where people decide to follow the Lord. It is the freedom to believe, the freedom to do what is right, the freedom to forgive ... It seems that God's kingdom is where people act in faith. And it seems that God's kingdom is NOT, where we do not act in faith, where we do not follow. But then, when you fail, you realize how much greater God's kingdom can be. It is not there for those who want to fail, since they do not care about God. But for all those who have broken hearts. For all those, who want to explore his way. For all those who are searching for their own path of discipleship, God's heart is there, even if they fail! God's kingdom is greater and wider than we often think!! (Roland Potthast) [[http://www.jesusnetwork.eu/en/doku.php/topics_collection_v|... more texts]]