false 64757 1 1 171110 1590525019 9781590525012 17 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172385634m/171110.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172385634s/171110.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/171110.This_Beautiful_Mess_Practicing_the_Presence_of_the_Kingdom_of_God 3.86 78 Already Not Yet

When Jesus announced, “the kingdom of God is at hand,” what did He mean? Uncover the reality of the kingdom of God and what it might look like if followers of Christ practiced its in-breaking presence. What happens when we view life through the lens of the kingdom? How does the beauty of Jesus’ reign break into the mess of our broken lives and world? What if we lived as though a world other than this one was here today? This Beautiful Mess launches a paradigm-shifting journey inviting us to experience the kingdom of God in the ordinary miracle of our everyday lives.

"The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field.

When a man found it, he…

sold all he had and bought that field.”

—Matthew 13:44

Jesus’ sayings about the kingdom of God just might be the most overlooked of his teachings. Yet the Good News of the kingdom—a treasure beyond price—was what he came to preach.

It’s time to ask:

What is the kingdom Jesus talked about?

Could it be already here, hidden from sight? If so, where is it?

How can I be a part of it?

A new generation is tuning in to the teachings of Jesus and to their revolutionary implications. Could it be that living under Christ’s reign is not merely a future vision but a present reality?

Rick McKinley’s exploration is fresh, accessible, and timely. With careful attention to historical texts, he unveils new understandings of authentic personal and social transformation. The time is now. Your opportunity is here. In the mess of everyday life, you can live in the beautiful presence of the kingdom.

Story Behind the Book

”When we started Imago Dei Community, it was with a passion to be people who live in love with Jesus and live out the values of His kingdom in our city. But we had no idea how to do that. God let us stumble into grace and discover the wide-open plains of His kingdom. This has ruined us in the best way possible. Because once you taste untamed life in the kingdom, you will never go back to the sterile hallways of religion. The beautiful, transforming grace of Christ shows up in the messiness of life and the kingdom breaks in as a beautiful mess.”—Rick McKinley]]> 64757 3.67 143 27 2498 4.06 520 139 2006 111956 1590523873 9781590523872 7 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171655004m/111956.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171655004s/111956.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/111956.Jesus_in_the_Margins_Finding_God_in_the_Places_We_Ignore 3.35 54 Good News Unpacked

Jesus is our ultimate model for finding identity, acceptance, and legitimacy from the Father. As we pull back the curtain on His life, we discover that Jesus knows what it’s like to be marginalized. He understands how it feels to have society shove you to the side, to not really be accepted, and in the end to be totally rejected. He can identify with life in the margins because when God came to earth in the person of Jesus Christ, He landed in the margins. On purpose. And He chose to land there because it’s in the margins that broken lives get mended, prisoners are set free, and the poor hear the Good News.

Reimagine Your Life

Welcome to the crowded margins of life. It’s a place where normal people don’t feel normal. Where the daily grind drowns out the soft cry within that says, “I do not have it together.” Where just beneath the surface we long for meaning and—dare we hope?—wholeness.

Rick McKinley writes from experience: Only God can rescue a person from the margins. Why? Because when He came to earth in the person of Jesus Christ, in the margins is where he landed. On purpose. To find you.

Don’t wait till you get yourself together. Meet Jesus in the margins just as you are, and reimagine your life through the lens of His transforming love.



Story Behind the Book

This book was birthed out of Rick’s ministry at Imago Dei Community Church. Rick’s heart is to communicate God’s Word in an understandable way to those who are outside the reach of traditional churches. He often calls this “unpacking the gospel”—a gospel he sees as the predominant theme in all of Scripture. Rick says the kind of people he ministers to “are not afraid of the language of theology, but the theological ideas need to be brought down from the mountain.”]]> 64757 3.67 143 27 2005 6793194 0310324521 9780310324522 3 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1256166325m/6793194.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1256166325s/6793194.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6793194-advent-conspiracy 3.78 9 64757 3.67 143 27 18471 3.74 112 24 298353 3.88 16 4 2009 7024600 0310324424 9780310324423 0 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1256166320m/7024600.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1256166320s/7024600.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7024600-advent-conspiracy 4.50 2 64757 3.67 143 27 298353 3.88 16 4 18471 3.74 112 24 2009 7286982 0310539161 9780310539162 0 http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-111x148.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-60x80.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7286982-advent-conspiracy 0.0 0 64757 3.67 143 27 18471 3.74 112 24 2009 7135302 031040052X 9780310400523 0 http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-111x148.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-60x80.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7135302-advent-conspiracy 0.0 0 64757 3.67 143 27 18471 3.74 112 24 298353 3.88 16 4 2009 6585816 0 http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-111x148.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-60x80.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6585816-this-beautiful-mess 0.0 0 Already Not Yet

When Jesus announced, “the kingdom of God is at hand,” what did He mean? Uncover the reality of the kingdom of God and what it might look like if followers of Christ practiced its in-breaking presence. What happens when we view life through the lens of the kingdom? How does the beauty of Jesus’ reign break into the mess of our broken lives and world? What if we lived as though a world other than this one was here today? This Beautiful Mess launches a paradigm-shifting journey inviting us to experience the kingdom of God in the ordinary miracle of our everyday lives.

"The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field.

When a man found it, he…

sold all he had and bought that field.”

—Matthew 13:44

Jesus’ sayings about the kingdom of God just might be the most overlooked of his teachings. Yet the Good News of the kingdom—a treasure beyond price—was what he came to preach.

It’s time to ask:

What is the kingdom Jesus talked about?

Could it be already here, hidden from sight? If so, where is it?

How can I be a part of it?

A new generation is tuning in to the teachings of Jesus and to their revolutionary implications. Could it be that living under Christ’s reign is not merely a future vision but a present reality?

Rick McKinley’s exploration is fresh, accessible, and timely. With careful attention to historical texts, he unveils new understandings of authentic personal and social transformation. The time is now. Your opportunity is here. In the mess of everyday life, you can live in the beautiful presence of the kingdom.

Story Behind the Book

”When we started Imago Dei Community, it was with a passion to be people who live in love with Jesus and live out the values of His kingdom in our city. But we had no idea how to do that. God let us stumble into grace and discover the wide-open plains of His kingdom. This has ruined us in the best way possible. Because once you taste untamed life in the kingdom, you will never go back to the sterile hallways of religion. The beautiful, transforming grace of Christ shows up in the messiness of life and the kingdom breaks in as a beautiful mess.”—Rick McKinley


From the Trade Paperback edition.]]> 64757 3.67 143 27 2009