Living in the Already Kingdom

“The Already Kingdom” / Pastor Chris Zauner / 12.14.2025

When sunlight fills a room in the morning, you don’t stop to debate what it is. You respond to it. Your body adjusts. You see more clearly. You move differently. You begin to orient yourself around the light.

The reign of Jesus functions the same way. When His presence enters a life or a place, things begin to reorder. Those who surrender to Him start to move and navigate differently. They live under a new reign. They belong to a new kingdom. Reality itself begins to take shape around His presence.

This is something we can easily forget during the Christmas season. Jesus’ presence matters not only because it brings salvation, but because it brings a kingdom—a kingdom that has come, and one we are meant to live within and orient our lives around, not just for a moment, but for all of life.

That leads to a simple and searching question: how are we doing at living under the reign of King Jesus? The presence of Jesus shapes reality, and no amount of desire, preference, or reinterpretation reshapes who He is. His rule forms the world we live in, not the other way around.

Stepping Into the Kingdom, Not Observing It

If the kingdom has already begun, then Christmas is not something we observe from a distance. It’s something we step into. We don’t wait for the kingdom to adjust to us; we surrender to it.

The kingdom shapes our identity. Our worth is not earned. Our identity is sealed by the Holy Spirit the moment we surrender our lives to Jesus. We don’t achieve it—we receive it.

And because of that, our future is not fragile.

A Future That Is Not Fragile

We live in a moment where fragility is easy to feel. Loss is close at hand. Disappointment lingers. It’s easy to believe that what comes next is uncertain, or that God’s reign is somehow unstable.

But the good news of the gospel tells us otherwise. Because of what Jesus has done on the cross, our circumstances do not dictate our future, and they do not dictate the future of the kingdom of God. We are anchored to something stronger than what shifts around us.

We are citizens of a kingdom that cannot be shaken. There is still brokenness. There is still darkness. And it is right to acknowledge that. God is not threatened by our questions. He is faithful, covenant-keeping, and committed to finishing what He has started.

If the kingdom shapes who we are, it also shapes how we live. Where the King reigns, His people reflect His character. That reflection shows up in integrity, in forgiveness, and in ordinary obedience.

God’s grace does not move only through dramatic moments. It moves through faithful lives. Forgiveness becomes visible. Love takes shape. The work God has done in us begins to be seen through us.

These are the quiet, faithful ways the kingdom shows up in a world that is still being healed.