Thoughts on Faith: The Kingdom of God (?)

"He [Jesus] called the Twelve together and gave them power and authority over all devils to cure diseases, and he sent them to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal... So they set out and went from village to village proclaiming the Good News and healing everywhere." -Luke 9:1-2, & 6

I read this passage the other morning and started thinking to myself, "Most of the Christianity I see in America today-- that is, 'evangelicalism' (and specifically the company I work for)-- really doesn't look anything like this. In fact, my life doesn't look anything like this."

When we talk about "sharing the Gospel", it usually consists of a list of very basic principals, like "Jesus loves you and he died for your sins so that you can go to heaven & live with him forever." But I don't think that's what Jesus meant when he told his followers to "proclaim the kingdom of God."

What exactly is the kingdom of God? I don't even know that I could give someone a good definition-- and I certainly don't go around telling people about it.

Another thought from this passage was that probably 75% of Jesus' ministry on earth was casting out demons & healing diseases. His disciples & apostles followed his example. But I have never in my whole life seen someone cast out a demon or heal a disease-- let alone do it myself.

It made me wonder: why would Jesus give us authority over demons if we didn't really need it? And why would he give us power to cure diseases if he didn't mean for us to do it?

I'm not going to go out & join any big tent revival, or anything, but I have been thinking for a while that my view of following Jesus (about "the kingdom of God") is much too small...