Understanding The Ultimate Kingdom - Part 3

*But John then said, “He (Jesus) was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.” (John 1:10-11)

*Here in Matthew 13 we see some of the people who refused to receive the King.

-These people made a fatal error.

-They let past experience keep them from faith in Jesus.

-They let their limited understanding block them from finding true wisdom.

-They let earthly connections keep them from making eternal connections.

-They made the fatal error of rejecting the King.

*Don’t let anything lead you to reject the King!

*Stephen Olford was one of the best known preachers of the last 40 years. But for many years he rejected the King. Stephen grew up as a missionary kid in Africa. But he did not want to go through the trials and tribulations of being a missionary.

*Then Stephen was mistreated by some Christians in England, and he rebelled against God. He studied to become an engineer, developed a new carburetor, and got into racing motorcycles. But Stephen was injured in a motorcycle accident and given just two weeks to live.

*Still rebelling against God, Stephen refused to see the pastors who visited him. Then, he received a letter from his dad. This letter had been mailed long before Stephen’s accident, and it included this powerful message, “Only one life, ‘twill soon be past, -Only what’s done for Christ will last.”

*God used that message to touch Stephen’s heart and he prayed, “Lord, if You will heal my body, I will serve You anywhere, any time, and at any cost!”

*God did heal Stephen! And his life was greatly used by God because He received that wonderful warning, “Only one life, ‘twill soon be past, -Only what’s done for Christ will last.” (7)

4. Be warned about rejecting the King. -- And realize how important your faith is to the King.

*In vs. 58 we see the incredible importance of faith, because there Matthew tells us that: -(Jesus) did not do many mighty works (in His hometown of Nazareth) because of their unbelief.

*We must believe. We must believe in the infinite wisdom, compassion and ability of Almighty God. We must believe that all things are possible with God. We must believe that He is able to work any miracle. Remember that if a miracle is a one in a million thing, there are over 6,000 miracles a day, because there are over six billion people in the world.

*Many of us have testimonies about God’s miraculous intervention in our lives. At home we have a copy of a will from some old friends of ours. This will made us the legal guardians of their children -- if necessary.

*When I worked for the Air Force in the late 70’s, one of my best friends was a Captain named Bill. We got a call from Bill in the fall of 1993. He had been diagnosed with terminal cancer. And he wanted to ask us to raise their two children if anything also happened to his wife, Chrissy. Bill and Chrissy chose us, because none of their close relatives were Christians.

*Bill went to Cleveland for a desperate, last-ditch attempt to save his life. The surgery involved taking his face off to get to the tumor. They did one last CAT scan just before the surgery. Bill was lying on the bed in pre-op when the doctor came in and said, “I am in shock and disbelief. And I can’t justify the surgery.” Bill asked, “Why?” And the doctor said: “The tumor’s gone! We’ve been looking at the CAT scan for an hour. And we can’t find it.”