Main Scriptures: Mark 4:21-34

Additional Scriptures: Ezekiel 17:22-24, Isaiah 11:1-2, John 14:6, John 15:1-5, 2 Cor. 4:16, Acts 4:32

POINTS:

• The Kingdom of God is like a tree that connects heaven to earth. Its roots are in heaven and its branches are in earth and by its trunk the whole earth turns.

• Jesus is that Tree; He is our connecting point too heaven and is the source of the Kingdom of God.

• Kingdom community flourishes because it is connected to His presence.

• In the Kingdom of the World everything is decaying. The root soil of the Kingdom is rocky, shallow, and weed ridden.

• Christians flourish spiritually and relationally because we are connected to Jesus.

• The purpose of God’s Kingdom is to restore and renew THIS creation.

• To connect to Jesus, we must see Him as King and therefore surrender our heart to Him. “Hilt towards Him and blade towards us”.

• The central organizing principle of the Kingdom of God is selflessness; by giving we are creating.

• The central organizing principle of the kingdom of the world is selfishness.

• A new kind of community is created from our submission to the Creator, one where outsiders become insiders.

Know Him. Known by Him. Make Him known.