solitude

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Tom Wright

Revelation 11.15:
‘The Kingdom of this world is become the Kingdom of our God and of his Christ.’


"….Equally, there was a long tradition of revolt, from the Maccabees to Bar-Kochba, sometimes using the slogan ‘No King but God’.13 But when Jesus of Nazareth announced that God’s kingdom was breaking in, he seems not to have meant it in that sense. What was he talking about? How did Jesus’ vision of God’s kingdom stand in relation to the kingdoms of the world?
From the start, Jesus’ proclamation of God’s kingdom was fighting talk.14 Everybody knew that God’s kingdom didn’t refer to a place, perhaps a place called ‘heaven’, where God ruled and to which God’s people would be gathered, well away from the wicked world, at the end of their lives. Only a Deist could think like that. God’s kingdom, said Jesus, was coming, and people should pray for it to come, on earth as in heaven; and here he was, on earth, making it happen before people’s very eyes. When Herod heard, he was angry; he was King of the Jews, and rival claimants tended not to live long. When the Chief Priests heard, they knew that it meant a challenge to their power base, the Temple. If Caesar had heard, he would have reacted similarly. What none of them could figure out, and what even Jesus’ closest associates had difficulty understanding, was what kind of a challenge Jesus intended to pose: what sort of a kingdom he was advancing, and what kind of a king he considered himself to be."

poker odds from Watkins HS

in case you are playing cards this fine Friday night...dont question going all in...it looks good according to this source-


"johnny marette won the poker tournament with a royalflush...which is a once in a lifetime hand...apparently the people who think they know say it's...1:649,750 but you know what i think...it's 50:50..."- MB....all in.