According to the Gallup Poll on religious life in America, more than 40 million profess to be born again and one in five say they attend a Bible study weekly.

Nevertheless what seems to be an “evangelical awakening” in America is having no appreciable influence on morals and ethics.

One explanation for this impotence is the separation of the gospel from the kingdom – as if they were two separate and distinct matters. They are often referred to as the gospel and the kingdom.

In the New Testament it is the gospel of the kingdom.  In the New Testament they are connected – inseparable.

For many today the gospel is for now and the kingdom is future; which makes it possible to believe the gospel and ignore kingdom principles. In other words, enjoy the gospel without obeying the King!

So church people live like citizens of this world – not citizens of the kingdom but as children of this secular world rather than children of the kingdom.

Many are in the church who have never seen the kingdom:. Jesus said, “. . . unless one is born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”  John 3:3 (RSV)

Many are in the church but are not in the kingdom. Jesus said, “,..unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God”  John 3:5 (RSV).

And many are in the church and in the kingdom –  but they treat the kingdom as future in its coming and have no kingdom allegiance now.

In the New Testament the kingdom is both present and future . . . it is here and coming. It came with Christ’s first coming and it will be consummated when He comes again;  when He re-enters history in His final triumph!