The Kingdom is still advanced through those who refuse to be passive. It is still possessed by those who press in. It is still the inheritance of the hungry.
"And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force."— Matthew 11:12
There is a crisis in the modern church that no pulpit committee can name and no marketing campaign can cover. It is not the lack of programs. It is not the shortage of conferences, podcasts, or worship albums. It is the quiet acceptance of a Christianity that waits, that watches, that wonders — but rarely wars.
A Christianity that has learned to sing about the Kingdom without ever contending for it.
Jesus said something about this nearly two thousand years ago, and it still cuts like a sword through our comfortable pews. The Kingdom belongs to those who will not be passive. It is possessed by those who press in.
This is not gentle. This is not the vocabulary of a faith that waits around hoping something might happen.
This is not a call to physical aggression. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal. Neither is this a message of self-promotion, political conquest, or cultural triumphalism.
It is a summons to determined, Spirit-wrought pressing against the very real enemies of the soul: unbelief, passivity, fear, flesh, and the devil himself. It is an invitation to stop coasting, to stop waiting for someone else to reach out and grasp what has already been given, and to stop treating the Kingdom of God as a distant horizon when it is a present reality offered to you in Christ.
Blind. Poor. No social standing. When he raised his voice to call out to Christ, the crowd tried to silence him. And what did Bartimaeus do? He grew louder. He became more desperate. He refused to be silenced by anyone who did not understand what was at stake. Jesus stopped in His tracks, called for the blind beggar, and healed him.
How many have missed their moment because the crowd around them said hush when they should have been crying out louder?
A Gentile woman. No covenant claim. She asked Jesus for help and received silence. Then rejection. Then a word that would have broken a lesser faith. But she would not be turned away. She pressed in with a faith so fierce that Jesus Himself marveled and gave her what she came for.
That is holy violence. That is the Kingdom taken by force.
"The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it."— Luke 16:16
What the Kingdom of God actually is — from the prophets through the proclamation of Christ. The ancient dream. The present reality.
The Greek word biazetai. Holy violence against passivity, unbelief, fear, and the devil. Bartimaeus, the Syrophoenician woman, and the faith that would not be denied.
How the believer gains access to the Kingdom — not by performance, but by the blood of Christ and the boldness it purchased.
How to draw life, power, and provision from the Kingdom daily — not as a theory, but as a lived practice.
What the Kingdom produces in those who live from it — righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.
Why the Kingdom is inseparable from the King. You cannot have one without the other. He is the Kingdom.
Plus Kingdom Confessions, a complete Companion Study Guide with lesson plans, a Leader's Guide, and a Closing Self-Assessment.
For many years Lloyd Krein served at the Coachella Valley Rescue Mission, ministering to men and women the world had discarded — addicts, the homeless, the broken, the forgotten. In that place he watched what the Kingdom of God can do in a human life when someone finally decides to stop being passive and lay hold of Christ. He watched men who had been enslaved for decades walk free in a matter of months.
He also watched the opposite — people who came close and drifted away, because no one had ever told them that the Kingdom is fought for, not floated into.
239 pages. Six chapters of Kingdom teaching plus the complete Companion Study Guide with lesson plans, sample reading schedules, a Leader's Guide, self-assessment, and glossary.
If you are weary of religious sleep, this book is for you. If you have sensed that there must be more, you are right. If you have been stirred to reach deeper into God and have not known where to begin — here is a map, and here is the call.
Take it by force.
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