LifeTalk Podcast
LifeTalk is the official podcast of LifeHouse Church MOT. Our heart for this podcast is to help our church grow and to go deeper here at LifeHouse. We’ll be interviewing staff members & hearing their testimonies. We’ll be discussing various topics such as parenting, marriage, day-to-day functions of the ministry and so much more from a biblical perspective. Our goal is to help equip our church to glorify JESUS in every area of life.
LifeTalk Podcast
S7E38 - Luke 17:20-37 - What is God's Kingdom All About??
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If Jesus returned today, what would He find you living for? That single question turns Luke 17:20–37 from “end times curiosity” into a gut-level audit of our priorities, our schedules, and the quiet motives driving our choices. We sit down as the steady Life Talk crew and walk through Jesus’ teaching on the kingdom of God and the coming of the King, with Rico guiding us through three anchors that keep the passage clear and personal: presence, promise, and preparation.
We start with the Pharisees asking when the kingdom will come and Jesus flipping their expectations. The kingdom of God isn’t something you spot with sign-hunting “observation” or spiritual guesswork. It’s God’s reign and rule revealed in Christ, and the danger is real: we can know the Bible, attend church, and still miss what God is doing right in front of us. That leads to an honest conversation about spiritual blindness, religious performance, and the temptation to demand something spectacular instead of submitting to Jesus’ authority today.
Then we talk about the promise of Jesus’ return. Christ warns against “look here, look there” predictions and reminds us His return will be unmistakable like lightning across the sky. He points to Noah and Lot and highlights ordinary life rhythms that keep people distracted and unready. Finally, we land on the sharpest line in the passage: “Remember Lot’s wife,” a discipleship warning for anyone who leaves something physically while their heart keeps looking back.
If you want a clearer, more grounded Christian take on the kingdom of God, the second coming of Jesus, and what daily readiness actually looks like, press play, then subscribe, share, and leave a review to help others find the podcast.
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Welcome Back And Where We Listen
SPEAKER_01What's up, Lifehouse family? Welcome back to the Life Talk Podcast. Another week and another awesome time to sit down with our listeners and talk through some scripture and enjoy just what God's Word has to say to us. Try to go deeper and just encourage everybody as you go about your week, whether you listen to us in the car or on the treadmill or who knows, on the lawnmower. I don't know. Where do you listen to your podcast, Jeremy?
SPEAKER_00Usually on the ride to work.
SPEAKER_01Okay. Yes, I'm in the car. Rico, when's your podcast time? Ride in the morning after doing my prayers. There you go. That's pretty good. Yeah, I do working out time. And Jonathan, what's uh what's your podcast time? Going to and from work. To and from work. See, there you go. So we got uh we got a little cross-section here, but uh wherever you are, we appreciate you taking some time to listen to us, and we are continuing our 2026 journey through the book of Luke, approaching and working through September. We just had our men's conference this week. We had an awesome time with John Noise from Stand to Reason. Hopefully, for the men, you did not miss it, and you were blessed with the opportunity just to understand how to go deeper and be able to have more confidence in our faith to answer objections, and we we really pray that was a blessing to you. But we are back in action this week, working through Luke, and you already heard from him, but we got the the steady crew going on. We're uh we're rolling with Jeremy, Rico, and Jonathan, keeping keeping everything consistent this month for you on the on the podcast. But we will be working our way through the remainder of chapter 17. Last week, Jonathan took us through a real focus look at the heart and forgiveness as well as faith and gratitude. But today we're gonna really be looking at the kingdom and what is the kingdom of God all about? And Rico's gonna help us
Two Questions That Expose Priorities
SPEAKER_01answer that question. What can we really understand from this passage, Rick?
SPEAKER_03Well, thank you. Thank you for having me. And this is gonna be a special message. It really was an eye-opener as I was studying on this passage, and we're gonna be on Luke 17, 20 to 37, and the title of this is gonna be The Coming of the King. And before we get into this passage, I really want us to think about this. If you're listening at home, I want you to wrestle with a couple questions. Question number one: if Jesus returned today, what would he find you living for? That's the number one question. And the number two, are you more interested in knowing when Jesus is coming, or are you actually prepared for where he comes? And I want us to wrestle with that. With that being said, as we walk through this passage, I want us to look at three things, and I have some alliterations for you guys.
SPEAKER_01Yes, making Nate happy. Welcome back.
SPEAKER_00Welcome back. A couple weeks without alliteration.
SPEAKER_01I know I was going into withdrawal from the alliteration.
SPEAKER_03But I'm rough. Yes,
Presence The Kingdom Is Here
SPEAKER_03so I got the three P's for you. Let's capture this moment on these three P's. Presence, promise, and preparation. If you're taking notes, uh please do so. So presence, the kingdom is here. Promise, the king is returning, and preparation. Live ready for the king. What comes to this? I want to make sure that we recognize his presence. We trust in his promise. I want us to trust in his promise, and I want us to live like we prepare for him when he gets here. Okay. Because uh Luke 17 isn't simple asking, Do you believe Jesus is coming back? It's asking something much more personal. Does the way you live right now show that you believe in the king that is coming? So we're gonna dig right in. Uh let's scripture do the talking, and we're gonna start in the point number one presence. The kingdom is here. We're gonna go into Luke 17, first two verses, and let's read verse number 20. Now, when he was asked about by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God will come, he answered them and he said, The kingdom of God does not come with observation, nor will be they say, See here or see there, for indeed the kingdom of God is within you. This is very powerful. This is very powerful. Think about the irony of this. They are asking when the kingdom is coming while the king is standing right there in front of them. They were expecting something visible and dramatic. Many Jews were longing for deliverance from the Roman domination and expect God's kingdom to evolve into national restoration. They were looking for something while they well, that something and someone was already standing in front of them. So let's analyze what Jesus says in this couple verses from the beginning. The kingdom of God isn't primarily geographical or territory, it's God's reign and rule. And in Jesus, God's kingdom has entered into human history. He was right there in front of them. How come they couldn't recognize that? Jesus healed the sick, Jesus forgave sinners, Jesus cast out demons, Jesus restored people, Jesus called sinners to repent. The king has arrived, therefore, the kingdom has broken into the world. That's powerful. So I want to open up this with a couple of questions for us to analyze this couple of scriptures. Can we do the same thing today? Can we know Christianity attend church, know scripture, and still miss what God is doing right now in front of us? Any takers.
SPEAKER_01Very easy to do. I think we can still have the same attitude of looking for more than what Jesus is saying, right? It's right here, like he says, we especially now that we have God's word and the Bible and fulfilled the opportunities here to behold Christ now, even though we keep looking for these like bigger things. And we talked about, of course, with like the rich man and Lazarus a couple weeks ago, like looking for these signs and different things when it's right here, right now, and available to us. So I think to your point, it easily is still something that people are asking today. And I know we'll get into the promise of return, but there's been all these books for the last decades, and everybody thinks they get it all figured out, and and it just God's word really counters anybody who would think that, I would say for sure. Yes.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, the I think the Greek word here when he's talking about observed or observation is like implies watching for signs, like somebody like would be like an you know an astrologer or something like that. But and Jesus does give us in other passages some level of like of what the world will be like when his return is coming. But the point is that we need to recognize Jesus' authority today in our lives and be be found faithful doing the doing the work that he has given us when he returns, like for us. The steward should be found faithful, right? Yes.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's interesting too, just you know, kind of looking back over where we've come in the last few chapters and weeks with the Pharisees, and just you know, initially it was with those that love money, you know, looking for that, looking for how to appear religious with a heart that, you know, would sometimes lead people into temptations, etc., you know, to be wary of them. And then here we're now just where they're looking for signs. And so again, I think we're starting off with this concept of what not to do to some level, but it's it's individuals who are, quote, the religious establishment and yet aren't living as as God's kingdom demands us to.
SPEAKER_03That that that is very good. Uh acknowledge the two chapters that we went uh past this week and evidence that when we look at scripture like this, hey, are we prepared? Are we prepared for that? How about you, audience? How about you, the listener who is in the other side? Are you looking for God to do something spectacular while overlooking that he's already doing something in front of you? I want you to put that in the comments. This is the key thought about that. Don't become so focused on looking for the kingdom that you miss the king. That is huge for me. So Jesus moves from answering the Pharisees
Do Not Miss The King
SPEAKER_03to speaking directly to his disciples. The conversation moves from his presence of the kingdom to the promise of the king return. So we're gonna jump right into the second alliteration, which is promise. The king is returning. We're gonna leave read from Luke 20, Luke 17, verses 22 to 30. Then he said to the disciples, the days will come when you will desire to see the one of those days of the Son of Man, and you will not see him. And they will say to you, Look here, look there, do not go after them or follow them. Verse 24. For as the lighting that flashes out on one part and under the heaven shines to the other part under heaven, so also the son of man will be on his day. But first he must suffer many things, and he will be rejected by this generation. And as it was in the same days of Noah, so it will also be in the days of the Son of Man. They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given to marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. That's all verse 28. Likewise, as it is also in the days of Lot, they ate, they drank, they bought, they sow, they planted, they build. But on that day that Lot went unto Sodom, he ran fire and bristle from heaven and destroyed them all. We part here in verse 30. Even so would it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed. Here is the promise. Jesus warned his disciples that that people say, Hey, look here, look there. And Jesus says, Don't follow them. Throughout history, people have tried to predict Christ's return. We talked about that earlier: the dates, the signs, predictions, claims, or special revelation. But Jesus says, You won't need someone to tell you when he is going to return. Nobody has told you lining just like up in the entire sky. You know Jesus' return will be unshakable. But first is the cross. But first, he must suffer. It says in scripture, this is gonna guide us into what's gonna come in the upcoming talk, right? But first, he must suffer many things, and he will be rejected by his own generation, by his own people, he gets rejected. Before the glory comes, suffering. Before the crown comes, the cross. Before Jesus returned as the reigning king, he first come as a sort as a suffering savior. That's the gospel sitting right there in the middle of this conversation about his return. Here I want to point out two specific things: Noah
Promise The King Will Return
SPEAKER_03and Lot. Jesus gives two examples. In the days of Noah, people were eating, drinking, marrying, and going about their ordinary life, and then the flood came. In the days of Lot, people were eating, drinking, buying, selling, planting, and building, and then judge judgment came. And you guys noticing something Jesus described normal life. Eating, marrying, buying, selling, planting, and building here, inheriting the wrong things. The problem wasn't that they were living life. The problem was that they were living without considering God. That's a huge problem. We can do exactly the same right now. If you're listening to this, I want you to be very careful what about to say. We can do exactly the same thing now. Work, bills, career, money, family, spurts, vacation, retirement, social media, businesses, houses, and plans. None of those things are necessarily sinful, but they become dangerous when we are focused with building our kingdom and building that kingdom that we forecot that his kingdom is coming. Very careful with that. So my question to you why do you think Jesus emphasizing ordinary activities when describing Noah and Lot's generation instead of emphasizing their wickedness?
SPEAKER_01Well, I think it's pretty important throw another P in in the alliteration here. You know, you mentioned the promise, but in Noah and Lots of cases, those were prophesied, right? The flood was prophesied, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah were prophesied, but people didn't believe it. You know, they ignored it. So to your point, they're just going about life without understanding the prophecy and the promise that's coming and living ready for it. And I think that's like we the theme of here, people still living that way today, kind of ignoring what Christ is saying about the return and tying it all back to the kingdom. You know, the kingdom is here, but that's that promise of of the future as well. That this world is not all there is. There is something coming. And we always say, you know, well, people are expecting, like, well, is we gonna see the actual coming? Well whether Jesus actually returns or he calls you home, one or the other, tomorrow's not guaranteed. So, like how we live, like you said, it doesn't mean we don't live life, but we live life in a very particular way.
SPEAKER_00Another way, uh just another P there, a particular way.
SPEAKER_01A particular way, we got the peace coming, racking them up. We got the I love it.
SPEAKER_00We got a scoreboard here next to the podcast equipment. Okay. So, you know, I think that Jewish tradition and some of the looking through this, studying for this, was that Noah preached for you know and proclaimed God's judgment for around 120 years, and eight people entered the ark. So everyone ignored that that the judgment was coming. And and so when we see when judgment came, it was sudden for them, right? So like that suddenness of of it's happened, it happened quickly and suddenly. And and Jesus talks about in Revelation and in Paul talks about in First Thessalonians that the the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and you know, not in an not in a not comparing Jesus to a thief like in an like in a sinful manner, but like but it's a sudden thing. If you're not prepared for it, it's gonna come upon you suddenly and be a and be this unexpected thing. But if we're living life prepared, doing the work that we're so that the Lord has called us to, like like you'd said Nate, and then you you'd said Rico, you know, we we have to be prepared for the coming of the Lord. For those of us who like the day of the Lord won't be like a thief for someone who's ready for it, right? It'll be like we're we're we've we've been prepared, we've been faithful. Though though if you've been working as a faithful steward. That's good.
SPEAKER_02And I mean, just remember two, I think it was two weeks ago when we talked about Lazarus and the and the rich man and how once they they left this earth, that was it, right? And when judgment comes, we're all gonna face judgment. And when that happens, it's a very definitive time. There is no out it there's the before when you have a choice, and afterwards, it is, you know, is your name in the book of life. If it is, you are saved. If it's not, you are condemned. And I find it interesting with this how the comparison with when Christ returns, it's gonna be very evident. It's like thunder in the sky. It's gonna be, you know, there is no secret. Oh, is Jesus over here? Or, you know, is maybe he's over here. No, it's it's gonna be we're gonna know. There now, people may be deceived in in when that comes and try to explain it. Who knows? I mean, I'm amazed sometimes of what is believed nowadays to some extent that can be perpetuated out there. But I find it interesting just in a few verses before this, how Jesus is standing right before them and they're looking for him. They don't realize the Messiah is standing before them, and so it's this it's this odd juxtaposed uh juxtaposition between he's here now, but we don't see him, to where we want to see him, but you know, is he over there? You know, it's just it's it's the deception there is just I find it amazing, but I think it's just a reminder for all of us to realize is that we need to be prepared, we need to be ready. If we're gonna be servants of his kingdom, then we need to be living each day for Christ.
SPEAKER_03No, a hundred percent. I I think the key thought here is the danger isn't necessary that people stop living. Is the danger is that people living as though this life is all there is.
SPEAKER_00Yep.
SPEAKER_03Right. And the question for my audience is if Jesus returned to this right now, let's say he comes right now, while you're working, eating, making money, scrolling that in your phone, doing this podcast, will he find you ready? Will he find you ready? So Jesus has shown, and I want you to put that in the chat. I don't know, I'm not getting trouble for this, but but we already have five P's in this message. If you can go ahead and write those five.
SPEAKER_01Jeremy said preaching and proclaiming.
SPEAKER_03That's it. Yes,
Noah And Lot Ordinary Life Warning
SPEAKER_03you know, right. Yeah, that's we got we got some peas in here. So if you if you're listening right now, if you can put what peas are in the comments, we truly appreciate you. That let us know that you're paying attention. That'd be perfect.
SPEAKER_00I really don't think hey, I really don't think anybody's gonna top nate in one of his forged when it was like what was like 17 C's, yeah.
SPEAKER_03Ooh, I'm coming back. I'm coming back. I'm just warning with three. On the life talk podcast. Yes. So Jesus has shown us the presence of the kingdom, he's given us the promise of his return. Now he's turns toward the preparation with three powerful words. Remember Lot's wife. Point number three preparation, live ready for the king. So we're gonna read out of Luke 17, 31 to 37. And he reads Verse 31 In that day he who is in the house top and his goods are in the house, let him not come down to take them anyway or take them away. And likewise the one who is in the field, let him not turn back. Remember Lot's wife. Whoever seeks to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will persevere. I will tell you, in that night there will be two men in one bed. The one will be taken and the other one will leave. Two women will be grinding together. The one will be taken and the other one left. The two men will be in the field, one will be taken, and the other one will be left behind. And they answered to him and said to him, Where Lord? So he said to them, Wherever the body is, there the eagles we gather together. Three words. But there is an entire story behind those three words. Last family was living in Sodom as the judgment was coming. His wife left physically, but she looked back. We shouldn't speculate beyond what Genesis tells us about everything happening inside our hearts in her heart. But Jesus clearly used her as a warning. Whoever seeks to persevere his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will keep it. Now this passage isn't simple about prophecy. It is about discipleship. There is a difference between physically walking away from something and your heart still longing for it. So I want us to reflect on this. Why do you think Jesus wants his disciples to remember when he says, remember Lot's wife? I want to open it up to you guys.
SPEAKER_01Pretty important the like you say, if we go back and look at Lot's wife, I think it's really important what you said of she left physically but not emotionally, spiritually, was hanging on the looking back. And of course, we know she turned into a pillar of salt. You know, she really lost her life by looking back. And Jesus commonly says, you know, you put your hand to the plow, you know, don't look back. So I think that's again how we're living in that prepared way not by being focused on this world, but by being kingdom-minded and kingdom-focused. And there's another good P right there, preserve. You know, if you want to preserve your life, it's really about laying down your life. So what we're kind of building into that way we live our life is a certain laying it down, serving, having a kingdom mindset, I think is is what I would take away from a lot of this.
SPEAKER_00Nate, I was thinking about the same verse, Luke 9.62, about you know, putting your hand to the plow and looking back.
SPEAKER_01Back in the archives, yeah. Look that one up, maybe. Exactly.
SPEAKER_00But I mean, if our hearts are, you know, as an application, you know, do we we need to examine our hearts to see, you know, where are we what are we holding on to from in the world that God is already rescuing us from? God is like rescuing us out of the world, but are we holding on to something in the world that that in the world, you know, are we looking back in some way? Like it's because like you just said, it's about discipleship, Rico. So like what is it, like what is it that we need to give up that so that we can, you know, no turning back. I have decided to follow Jesus, turning back, right? So like what do we need to give up?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, the it's interesting because this is gets back to Genesis 19, 17, is where Lot's you know, wife and and the family was given the command, and they were commanded, escape for your life, do not look back, or stop anywhere in the valley. Escape to the hills, least you be swept away. And so that was the command. It was very explicit, you know, shouldn't have been any confusion there. Yet she chose for whatever reason
Preparation Remember Lot’s Wife
SPEAKER_02to look back. And I think you know, it's easy hindsight being 2020. Most people go, oh man, she was kind of dumb for why did she look, you know, I I would know not to look back, right? I mean, her husband didn't look back, her daughters didn't look back. Why did she look back? Yet one out of four looked back even when commanded not to. And I think that's the same for us with the commands we have today. We got a whole, you know, the Bible is ex very explicit with many things, and yet a lot of times we find ourselves, for whatever reason, looking back. And so I think it is an admonishment to be, especially with what God has promised and what is to come in his kingdom, is to be sticking close to those commands and making sure that we're looking forward.
SPEAKER_03Yes, yeah. For my audience, for my audience, I want to bring you, I want to know who you are. I really want to hear the see the read the comments here. I'm really interested. Can you live something physically while your heart's still living there? We talk about that. We're talking about the whole family looking forward. She left something behind, even though she knows she can go get it back, she did exactly what she was not supposed to do. So, one taking, one left. We see that in scripture three times in this verse in this passage. Jesus described people who are extremely close together, two people in bed, two people working together, and one is taking while the other one remains. Christians have different interpretations concerning precisely how taking should be understood here. Right? And that's a valid concern. And I encourage you to keep listening to this podcast. Whether the person is being gathered or taken in judgment, we don't have to restore everything, every end times debate to understand Jesus' main warning, he's coming and he's gonna bring separation, that's gonna be final, right? So as we close, I want to ask some provocative questions here for the audience and for us too. It happens to us. Do you think people sometimes confuse being around Christianity with actually following Christ? What does life generally prepare you for the return of Christ? And how does that look like? Right? It's faith, repentance, obedience, faithfulness, holiness, love, mission, not perfection, but surrender. So as we look at this alliterations, I used to say, I brought three. We already on number nine, I believe. Oh, we're going for a record here. So let's recap. Presence the kingdom is here. The Pharisees were asking when the kingdom was coming while the king was standing right in front of them. Number two, promise the king is returning. When he comes, Jesus will be like lightning across the sky. You won't have to wonder if he's here or not. Preparation, live ready for the king. Jesus doesn't tell his disciples, figure out the date. He tells them, Remember Lot's wife. That's powerful. We spend a lot of time asking, when is Jesus coming? Maybe Jesus' question for us is why does the date matter if you are ready to get ready today? Right? In Noah's generation, they were eating, drinking, marrying, life was normal until it wasn't. Last generation they were buying, selling, planting, building, life was normal normal until it wasn't. Tomorrow we are gonna wake up, go to work, pay bills, take the kids somewhere, check social
Final Heart Check And Daily Readiness
SPEAKER_03media, build businesses, and make plans. None of that is necessarily wrong, as we stated. But the question is, have we become too busy building a life that we have forgotten preparing for eternity? Jesus, leave us with those words remember Latfe. So if you're listening right now, what are you living for? What are you still looking back at? And if the king comes today, will he find you ready to meet him? Because the question isn't simple. Do you believe Jesus is coming? The hearty question is does your life look like you believe that Jesus is coming? Recognize his presence, trust his promises, live in preparation. With that being said, I appreciate you. Thank you.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, good stuff. And so I think the important part also to remember is the kingdom is now as well, in terms of like you said, like the presence is here, but then there's also the future promise. So we should accept and and really bring both into our daily living. So, listeners, we appreciate you taking some time with us today. As always, we hope this encourages you. Seek the kingdom first, all the other things get added to us for sure. So live that out today. We look forward to seeing you next time.
Closing Encouragement And Review Request
SPEAKER_01Thanks for tuning in to the Life Talk Podcast. If this episode encouraged you, please be sure to like, comment, subscribe, and leave a review so others can find this content as well. And we'll look forward to seeing you next Monday for another great episode.
