The mission of the Kingdom - Multiplication (Signs & Symbols)

This is our Sunday teaching from Senior Pastor, Tom Thompson. Recorded live at our Sunday Service in Harris Academy Purley, Croydon on Sunday 8th December, 2025.

Below you can find the full talk audio, and a summary article.  The slides are here.

Want to lead a connect group session on this teaching?  The notes here!

The Kingdom Jesus Brings - And the Part We Play

Over the last few weeks we’ve been exploring Jesus’ mission: the kingdom of God. When Jesus arrived on the scene, this was His headline: “I have come to bring the kingdom.” In Luke’s Gospel — written by a doctor determined to record the facts carefully — the whole story of Jesus is framed around this kingdom: what it is, what it does, and what it calls us into.

We’ve already seen that the kingdom begins with meeting the King. Jesus is not distant or demanding; He approaches us with humility and love, offering forgiveness, grace, purpose and hope. Then the kingdom moves us towards integration — learning to see people not as objects or obstacles, but as image-bearers of God, valued and loved. It continues into formation, where God heals and reshapes us so we can become who we were always intended to be.

This week we looked at the fourth movement of the kingdom: multiplication. Jesus never pours His life into someone simply for their comfort; He pours His life into them so that it might flow outward to many more.

At the end of Luke’s Gospel, the resurrected Jesus meets His confused disciples and “opens their minds” to understand the Scriptures. Suddenly they see the story: the Messiah would suffer, rise again, and then the message of forgiveness would go to all nations. And then Jesus says something stunning: “You are witnesses of these things.” In other words: this kingdom now continues through you.

That’s still true today. Every Christian has a story that involves both a human witness and God’s gracious work of opening the heart. And every Christian is now sent — not in their own strength, but clothed with “power from on high.” We become signs that point others to Jesus and symbols that reflect something of His character in our workplaces, families and neighbourhoods.

None of this is meant to be done alone or in our own effort. The gathered church is itself one of the greatest symbols of God’s kingdom: diverse, united, hopeful, empowered by the Spirit. And Jesus invites us again to seek His Spirit — to be filled, refreshed and equipped so that our lives bear fruit far beyond what we could imagine.

The King has come. His kingdom is growing. And in His hands, your story is more powerful than you know.