A Kingdom Greater Than Any

Issue 4: May 2009 Editor: Jessie Cross A Kingdom Greater Than Any Nearly 1500 years have gone by since the Western Roman Empire fell into ruin, and yet it is still re- membered as one of the greatest kingdoms in this world’s history. Yet even this mighty empire that conquered the ancient world was helpless to stand against the One who confessed before the Roman governor Pontius Pilate: My kingdom is not of this world… but now my kingdom is from another place (John 18:36). For the soldiers guarding the garden tomb outside of Jerusalem could do nothing but quiver in fear as the earth shook and the angel of the Lord rolled back the stone to show the world that Christ had risen and therefore had secured by his death and resurrection an eternal kingdom for his people (Matthew 28:1-11)! Yes, empires and kingdoms rise and fall, but the Word of our God stands forever (Isaiah 40:8). What is this kingdom? We live a short distance from a border that separates Minnesota and Wiscon- sin: the Mississippi River. I can look on a map and see that the “Kingdom” of France has rivers, hills and cities. But where will I find this Kingdom we pray about in the second petition? Jesus answered a similar question this way: The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, nor will people say, „Here it is‟ or „There it is,‟ because the kingdom of God is within you (Luke 17:20-21). To Pilate, Jesus said: I am a king… I came into this world to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me (John 18:36-37) and St. Paul wrote: Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts…let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly (Colossians 3:15-16). This kingdom we pray for is not at this time a place with rivers and cities we can observe with our eyes, but it is Jesus ruling in our hearts by His Word. Those who belong to this Kingdom of God are those who trust in Jesus as our Savior from sin, our Eternal King of Kings! Membership. We become members of the earthly kingdom, the United States of America by birth. But by birth, we were sinners and therefore excluded from God’s kingdom. Instead we belonged to a very different and very horrible kingdom, the kingdom of sin and the devil and therefore were under God’s wrath and punish- ment (cf. Ephesians 2:1-3). Although we can make the choice like Pontius Pilate and the Jewish leaders did to reject Jesus and his kingdom, we could never make a choice of ourselves to choose Jesus and his membership in his kingdom since we were dead in sin. So it was only because Jesus chose us (You did not choose me, but I chose you…John 15:16) and sent His Holy Spirit to give us a new birth from above in Baptism (no one can en- ter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit…John 3:5) so that by the Holy Spirit’s gift of faith we now trust Jesus as our Lord and King (No one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit-- 1 Corinthians 12:3). Why pray? Since we are believers already by God’s grace, why pray this petition? First of all we pray it for others, asking that God would bring others to trust his Son’s saving work and be gathered into his kingdom. But because we are on this side of heaven, we also recognize we are in constant danger of attacks from Satan, the world’s temptations, and our sinful nature within. Therefore, we are also praying that we would not fall away from our Lord and reject his kingdom, but in our daily weakness, we pray as the man who came to Jesus did in Mark 9:24: Lord, I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief! What a difference! Go back to where we started. Because God has made us members of His kingdom through the good news about Jesus’ life, death and resurrection, we enjoy the victory Jesus won that Easter morn- ing when He not only showed his power over the soldiers of the kingdom of Rome, but defeated for us the kingdom of hell and death! By: Pastor Shaun Arndt; Good Shepherd, Holmen By: Alicia Gartner Andrew Bakalars 11th season in baseball, MVP for 3 years, 2nd place in a tournament… I’d say Andrew has a love for baseball. He has been playing since he was 4 years old. His role model, favorite coach, and the rea- son that he got started were all because of his father. In the field he plays pitcher, short stop, and 3rd base. He is usually first or second in the batting line-up. Just like any other person, the thing that he dislikes about baseball is losing. “It’s easy to get the concept of baseball down and actually play it, but some of the opponents I face make it challenging. I love the challenge to win, to play my best, and use the God given abilities that I have been given.” Susanna Harbach She lives, breathes, eats, and sleeps tennis. She has been playing since she was in 2nd grade, and when asked why she started, she simply said that it runs through her family. Susanna most enjoys ground strokes in tennis. A groundstroke in tennis is a forehand or backhand shot that is executed after the ball bounces once on the court. It is usually hit from the back of the tennis court around the baseline. She most enjoys the matches. When Susanna was 13 years old, she won 2nd place in the 14 and under division for La Crosse Park and Rec. She says that tennis is easy, but it requires a lot of practice, but it only makes her a better player. Anna Bechly Dance, Dance, Dance!!! “I was always trying to do the things the ballerinas did on TV,” says Anna. She has been dancing since she was 5 years old. She does many types of dancing; jazz, hip-hop, tap, and lyrical. She likes to make up her own choreography. The aspect that Anna most enjoys about dancing is the recitals because she gets the chance to show off her talent. The only thing she doesn’t like about it is how sore and stiff you can get after the many hours of dancing. She has 5 medals and received her first one when she was 12. She has gone to Minneapolis for competitions, which is a great learning experience to observe other studio’s styles of dance. If dance is easy, Anna finds ways to make it challenging to make herself better. Noah White Noah has had an interest in hockey since he was in 2nd grade. He has traveled all over the United States to places like Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Michigan, and North Dakota to play in tourna- ments, and he loves it. His team won 1st place in a tournament in Albert Lee, Minnesota. There are many different skills in hockey, such as, shooting, blocking, and stopping the puck. One of his favorite defensive moves is called a butterfly. It’s a style of goaltending in which the goaltender fre- quently drops into the splits but is stopped at his knees. Noah loves the challenge that hockey gives him, and it only helps him become a stronger and better player. By: Deanna Marquardt Summer jobs can be a great way for teens to use their time in the summer. It can fill a teen’s time, which can keep them out of trouble. It can give them freedom to do some of the things that they want to do by giving them money so that they don’t have to ask their parents for it all the time. This also teaches them responsibility to do their job and teaches them to use their money wisely so that if there is something that they want, they have to save up for it. Sum- mer jobs can help a teen figure out what they might like to do for a career later in life. Also it gives teens the skills and even some experience that they might need later in life. However, jobs take up time and can be stressful for teens. But if they are introduced to them earlier in their life, it will help them to deal with it better when they have their own apart- ment or house. On the other side of the scale, they don’t have the freedom to go out and do stuff with their friends when they want to. Instead, they have a responsibility that has to come first. This is good for them because it teaches them what life will be like when they are on their own without their parents taking care of everything for them. Getting a summer job may give teens the opportunity to try new things. Sometimes these things can be a source of trouble for the teen. For example, they might be tempted with the opportunity to experiment with drugs and alcohol and other things that are both bad for their health and illegal as well. Also in the work place, they might have to face harassment and religious persecution. Having a summer job isn’t bad for a teen; it can actually help them to re- alize what life will be like out in the world by themselves.

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