What is Kingdom – Eric Johnson
Eric Johnson • July 19, 2018
The Church is in the Kingdom, but not all of the Kingdom is in the Church. Hear pastor Eric Johnson, from Bethel Church, share his heart on what Kingdom ministry looks like.
– TRANSCRIPT
Hi, my name is Eric Johnson. I’m the co-senior pastor of Bethel Church in Redding, California, along with my wife Candice. You know, I want to take just a moment and share a little bit about what God is doing today around the world, and even more specifically, what’s happening in Redding, with our church and our people and our community of believers. You know, one thing we do know that the church is in the kingdom, but not all of the kingdom is in the church. And as we’ve been diving and driving down that road of thought, we begin to realize, there is a lot more to the kingdom than we’ve ever realized. As we begin to study and lean into what the Lord is saying, we understand that the way that the…our father, the King, and the way His world works, our passion, and Jesus clearly communicated this in scripture, “I want the kingdom of heaven to come to Earth.”
In our journey for many years of going after this [SP], one of the area that have been really fun to see, it took place just a few years ago, actually. I was called to go to a luncheon at a country club, and they decided, “Hey, Eric, can you come in and just share what’s going on with Bethel,” etc., etc. And I had never spoken at this Rotary Club before. So, it was three months down the schedule. I showed up for this luncheon, and I shared for like 10 or 15 minutes, here’s why we love our city. And, you know, I did talk about God just because I’m a pastor and they knew that. But, I just kept it pretty much to what’s happening in the city, and why we love it, why we do what we do because we’re really engaged in our city in a lot of different areas. Toward the very end of this 10, 15 minutes of just giving them some updates, they wanted to do some Q&A.
One guy rose his hand and he…it wasn’t a question, it was more of a statement. He said, “My job, I’m responsible to keep track of all the startup businesses that happen in Redding. 84% of the startup businesses in the last 12 months are from people that go to your church. They go to Bethel.” I was so blown away by that, but I was really encouraged because we as a team had been exploring the idea, what is ministry? Like, what is it? Is it in a pulpit, is it in a church context, or is it bigger than that?
As we’ve been exploring, we begin to realize that ministry, and this would be my definition, ministry is more about who you are than what you do. Once you find out who you are, then everything you do in life has the potential to be worship to the King, to be ministry to the King. But to hear statistically that our people are so in love with our city, that instead of trying to get behind a pulpit, they’re actually trying to help our city economically, by starting up new businesses is the real spirit of entrepreneurship.
So that’s one of the expressions of this message, of going after the kingdom. What does it look like in everyday life? What is it like in heaven? What is the peace in heaven? What are the ideas, the brilliant, the genius of God in heaven and how can we see that? Not just, imparted into us, but it’s actualized in real life. So, we’re really encouraged by what’s happening and now we’re three or four years down the road from that and we are seeing the business sector of our city actually begin to prosper in new ways.
Kingdom is more than just church. It’s more than just what happened, they are actually supposed to affect your city and your region. And to make it a safe city, an economically prosperous city, low crime, low divorce rate, higher education, it should be all of that. And we do play an actual role in that. Hopefully, that’s encouraging and helpful to you.
If you want to grow in the prophetic, it doesn’t begin with what you say. It begins with what you see. The prophetic is rooted in perception. Not just natural insight, but spiritual awareness—what Scripture calls “the eyes of your heart.” Paul prayed that the church in Ephesus would have their hearts enlightened so they could truly see what God was doing. “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you…” (Ephesians 1:18) God isn’t distant or withholding. But if we’re going to hear Him clearly, we have to see differently. We need Heaven’s perspective. And that means learning to quiet the noise, tune into His voice, and let Him train our inner vision. You don’t need to wait for a dramatic vision or audible voice. Often, God speaks through a nudge. A mental picture. A scripture that lingers. A sense of burden or joy that feels holy. These are the first signs that your spiritual eyesight is awakening. But it takes time. It takes attention. It takes trust. Just like physical muscles grow with use, your spiritual senses grow as you spend time with Him—not just talking, but listening. Not just asking for answers, but asking for His perspective. You were never meant to live according to what the world says is true. You were meant to live by every word that flows from the mouth of God. A Prayer for This Week: “Lord, open the eyes of my heart. Teach me to see what You see—not just in others, but in myself, in my circumstances, in the world around me. Give me clarity and confidence to trust Your perspective more than my own. Amen.” This week, pay attention to what you notice. The way you see is often the way He speaks.
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