Dear friends,

Back in August, I had the privilege of preaching at my church. My sermon text was Hebrews 12, focusing on the bit at the end about receiving an unshakeable kingdom. This is the Christian promise: that we have already received a kingdom that cannot be shaken! It’s pretty shocking, that claim. But as I read and study Acts for a class I’m teaching, I see so clearly that the early church lived as if that kingdom really were among them. They were fearless—or if they feared, their fear was drowned in their vision of God and their radical hope in His love and grace. And God’s saints down through the centuries have echoed that hope, insisting that love and joy and peace and righteousness are possible here and now.

In my life. In yours.

After years of squinty-eyed skepticism, I am coming more and more to believe it’s true. I’ve seen the fruits of God’s transformative work in my life, and between now and Thanksgiving I promise to write and post an essay here that I hope will encourage you to believe (and live!) it, too.

In the meantime, you can listen to the sermon. Or if 25 minutes of sermonizing seems a little long to you, you can head over to The Cultivating Project, where Lancia Smith has kindly published a revised and (somewhat) expanded version of the sermon’s application section. I hope that one or both of these resources encourages you today to breathe the rich air of God’s love that surrounds you as an atmosphere. May you be filled to the measure with all the fullness of Him who loves us to the uttermost!

Warmly,
Kimberlee