Jesus gives us another reason to lay down our lives for Him and set our minds on His interests: because His kingdom has come, and will come with yet more power.

We examine what this kingdom was that Jesus refers to in our text, and we look at two ways in which it comes with power:

• By the Spirit's influence in your heart
• And by the King acting more directly in world events.

There are two posible ways to respond to this message, and we are encouraged to follow the second and not the first:

• If you hold onto your own life and live it the way you want, the Lord will be ashamed of you on the day He brings in His eternal Kingdom, and you will lose your soul forever.
• If you lay down your life, if you let go of it, if you pick up your cross to follow Him, He will empower you with His Spirit and make everything in this world work together to help you in your fight for Him.