The King Is Here: Making God's Kingdom Your Priority

Introduction

"We are gathered for the Kingdom of God." With these words, Malcolm Duncan, pastor of Kensington Temple in London, opens a week of conference called "For God's Kingdom." He warns right away that the church is not looking for a week of religious excitement, or just a fine sermon or powerful worship. It is asking God for far more than to "decorate our lives with a few spiritual moments."

The real question is not the success of the conference. "The question is whether, at the end of this week, Jesus Christ will have more rights over your life and mine." For the Kingdom of God is not "a religious department inside a life that is still run by self."

Unusually for him, the preacher speaks first to believers. He asks a single question: how do we make the Kingdom the priority in everything we are and everything we do? He answers it through four ways of looking: beholding the King, seeking his rule, becoming useful to the Master, and embracing his mission.

Outline of the Message

1. "The Lord knows those who are his"

Before preaching, Malcolm Duncan returns to a verse read during the service, 2 Timothy 2:19. He first read it on the night of his conversion, the first Sunday evening of February 1986, in Belfast. That night God saved him and also called him: he knew he would become a preacher.
The next day, at 16, he bought a Greek New Testament and a Hebrew Old Testament, both very old because he had little money. When the bookseller asked how he knew he would be a preacher, he answered: "God told me last night." He smiles: "Nobody had yet taught me that God doesn't speak like that anymore." In the Hebrew Bible, more than a hundred years old, someone had written down 2 Timothy 2:19.
That same evening, his great-aunt, who had prayed for his conversion with her husband, gave him a Strong's concordance. On the flyleaf, in her own hand: 2 Timothy 2:19. She had bought it for him on the day he was born, in 1970, because God had told her: "This man is set apart for my purposes," and she had prayed for him every day.
"I have often doubted myself. I have doubted my faithfulness." But never his calling. When everything seems to go wrong, he reopens these two old books to remind himself that "God always finishes what he starts."
He is convinced that God still calls men and women: "He doesn't need your money, your house or your car. He needs your heart. He needs your yes."

2. The Kingdom confronts every rival sovereignty

"The Kingdom of God this week will confront the rival sovereignties in your heart." It confronts the sovereignty of self, the dominion of sin, the power of death, and everything that degrades you and makes you feel less than human.
It also confronts leadership without a servant spirit, vision without holiness, and power without accountability. It announces that another authority has entered history: at the name of Jesus "every knee should bow" and "every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord" (Philippians 2:10-11).
"The first Christian confession was not: Jesus, help me. The first confession of the Church was: Jesus is Lord." And if Jesus is Lord, Caesar is not, nor the state, nor the market, nor my appetites, and my fear does not govern my future. "If Jesus is Lord, the King is here."
He recalls the song by Phil Wickham sung again at Kensington Temple, "The King Is in the Room": chains must break and fear must go, because the King is here. "I don't need to shout it. I declare it with the authority of Christ."
No one can confess for you that Jesus is Lord. But in this house, no one will lead without having confessed it, "not 50 years ago, not five years ago, but this week," in your daily choices.

3. Beholding the King

The church's founder, George Jeffreys, bought the building in 1930 and opened it in 1931; his brother Stephen had already held miracle campaigns there. After difficult years, the church started afresh in 1965 under the leadership of Eldin Corsie. "The story of this house is not the story of one man or one pastor. It is the story of a faithful God."
George Jeffreys would sometimes stop the service, climb onto a chair and say: "Wait a minute. The Master is here." Malcolm Duncan climbs onto a chair in turn: "Be still. Quiet your mind, for the Master is here."
Mark 1:14-15: "The time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is at hand." The Kingdom does not come as an abstract idea, it comes in Jesus Christ, "the bearer of the Kingdom." To know how the Kingdom treats the broken, look at how Jesus treats them: he kneels in the dust, he lifts up, he forgives, he restores the dignity that the enemy or religion has stolen.
Everything begins in a dark political landscape: John is in prison, Herod seems to hold power, Rome occupies the land. Jesus reads Isaiah in the synagogue at Nazareth (Luke 4:18-19). He does not wait for Herod's permission, Rome's approval or an opinion poll. His acts of compassion "are signs that the King is in the room."
His son-in-law, a worship leader, attended a large conference where some people were checking their watches because the worship was not to their taste. He shared a vision: the King came in, stopped in the middle of the platform, looked at each person, then walked out again. "Did any of you notice?" The preacher asks the same question.
He himself fasts and prays throughout the week of these conferences so that he comes attentive. "Don't look at me. Look at him." God asks Jeremiah: "What do you see?" (Jeremiah 1:11, 1:13 and 24:3), and asks Amos the same question (Amos 7:8 and 8:2). "Our programs, our strategies and our ideas are not enough. We need to look at the King."

4. Seeking his rule and submitting to his authority

"But seek first God's Kingdom, and his righteousness" (Matthew 6:33). Don't miss the word "first." Everyone organizes their life around an idea of the successful life: what will bring security, identity and importance. For some it is achievement; for others, comfort, recognition, wealth, influence or control.
When Jesus calls us into his Kingdom, he doesn't improve our vision: he gives us a new one. "Let your Kingdom come" (Matthew 6:10) is a dangerous prayer. "Let your Kingdom come, but don't touch my ministry" makes no sense.
He quotes a line he read in a book: "Heaven's plan is the pattern for earth." When London looks at us, it should see in us "a foretaste of the future."
Colossians 3:23-24, the central text of the conference: "Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord." "Whatever you do" leaves no room for a divided discipleship. The voice that criticizes your brother is the same one that praises the Lord.
The teacher, the nurse, the entrepreneur, the artist, the technician, the greeter, the investor: "It is holy work." God's serious callings are not only those on the platform. The Church must train disciples able to enter education, business, government, healthcare, the arts, the media, science and technology.
"We don't need another Christian celebrity on another platform." He honors three women of the church, the first three to be ordained to ministry in the Elim Pentecostal Church, in the 1990s: after their ordination, they went on moving chairs and serving tea and coffee. The Kingdom does not advance "by the greatness of our names, but by the faithfulness of our obedience."

5. Becoming useful to the Master

In 2 Timothy 2:14-26, Paul writes to a young leader in a difficult season, amid false teachings and disputes. He doesn't teach him how to enlarge his platform, he teaches him to guard his life. In a large house, the one who keeps himself pure becomes a vessel "useful to the Master" (verses 20-21).
"Useful to the Master. That is what is at stake. Not impressive to an audience, not envied by others, not celebrated on a platform." We do not own the house, we are vessels in the house. The Master determines our purpose, prepares our character and directs our service.
The leadership crisis in the Church rarely comes from a lack of talent, far more often from a lack of obedience. We confuse gifting with godliness. "The worst thing that can happen to someone is to be placed on the platform too early." Talent gathers a crowd, but it does not carry the weight of lasting spiritual responsibility. Charisma opens a door, but holiness alone decides when to walk through it.
Paul tells Timothy to flee certain things (verse 22). The preacher calls his church to flee apathy and the old cycle of "look what happened last time." Like Nehemiah facing those who shouted at him to come down (Nehemiah 6:3), he repeats what he declared when he arrived: "God called me to this wall. I'm not coming down."
"The Lord's servant must not quarrel" (verse 24). "How many ministries have been lost on the altar of what doesn't matter?" He clarifies that the church is not going through a crisis, quite the opposite: we preach these things so that we stay faithful on the day it gets hard.
A megachurch does not become a spiritual family through a weekly crowd. Cells are the place where you are known and where disciples are formed. Each one must keep a missionary imagination: who is not yet at the table? Who is isolated? Where is the pain hidden? The goal is not to produce consumers, but a Kingdom people.

6. Embracing his mission

The Spirit sends us to the broken and the excluded. Malcolm Duncan admits he doesn't like traveling or flying, but he agrees to travel the world because God gave him a heart for world mission. In Brazil, in Congo or in Togo, he has seen the Spirit fall again and again.
His challenge: go on a mission trip within the next 18 months. "If you can afford a Chinese takeaway every week, you can afford a mission trip. It's not a question of means, it's a question of priority."
London is not only the church's location, it is part of its mission. It is his favorite city, but a deeply unequal one: wealth and poverty sit a few streets apart, and millions of people live close together and yet alone. "The nations gather here, and the wounds of the nations too." You cannot love London and the world in theory.
The church's vision: 50,000 cells by 2040, 10,000 on each continent, around three million people born again. "Only God can do this. But God can do it."
He recalls 28 August 1963: Martin Luther King was losing the crowd until Mahalia Jackson called out to him: "Tell them about the dream, Martin." "I am not Martin Luther King. I am a little boy from Belfast, but I have a vision." A church that refuses to be shut inside four walls, cells in living rooms, cafés and universities, a missionary heart beyond London, a church on fire with the Holy Spirit and a generation rising up "until the world knows that Jesus Christ is Lord."

Key Takeaways

The Kingdom of God is not a religious department of your life: it comes in Jesus Christ and confronts every rival sovereignty in your heart.
The first confession of the Church is "Jesus is Lord." If Jesus is Lord, the King is here, and nothing else governs your future.
Seeking the Kingdom first means letting God reorganize your whole life: there is no sacred domain and secular domain, all work done for the Lord is holy work.
God looks for useful vessels more than impressive talents: holiness and obedience matter more than charisma.
God's vision produces mission: it sends us to our city and to the nations.

Personal Application

Which rival sovereignty still reigns in your heart: self, a fear, an appetite, money?
Have you ever prayed "Let your Kingdom come, but don't touch..."? Which area are you keeping for yourself?
This week, where will you fix your gaze on Jesus rather than on the speaker, the program or your habits?
In your work, your family or your service, what would make you more "useful to the Master" than merely visible?
Who is not yet at the table around you, and what concrete step of mission can you take in the next 18 months?

Verses Quoted

Frequently Asked Questions

What does Malcolm Duncan mean by "the King is here"?

The Kingdom of God does not come as an abstract idea: it comes in the person of Jesus Christ. Where Jesus is present by his Spirit, sinners are forgiven, the broken are lifted up, the excluded are welcomed. For the preacher, the first confession of the Church is "Jesus is Lord": if Jesus is Lord, the King is here.

Why is "Let your Kingdom come" a dangerous prayer?

Because you cannot sincerely ask for God's Kingdom to come while protecting the areas where you want to keep your own will. Saying "let your Kingdom come, but don't touch my ministry" makes no sense. Seeking the Kingdom first (Matthew 6:33) means letting God reorganize your whole life.

What does it mean to be "useful to the Master" in 2 Timothy 2?

In a large house, there are all kinds of vessels. The one who keeps himself pure becomes a vessel useful to the Master (2 Timothy 2:21). For Malcolm Duncan, the point is not to impress an audience but to obey: we do not own the house, we are vessels in the house, and the Master shapes our character before directing our service.