He that heareth you heareth me; and he that despiseth you despiseth me; and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me.
Luke 10:16
The wise words of Jesus.
He spoke these thought provoking words with respect to ministry work.
You see, Jesus had just sent out 72 men to go share the Gospel into various cities. Jesus told them, when you arrive in a city, and a house welcomes you, stay there, do your work, and heal the sick.
Fantastic stuff.
However, not every house would welcome these Christian ministers.
Not in those days, and not in these days.
Instead, some entire cities would not welcome Christians.
When that happens, do you know what Jesus said to do?
“…Go your ways out into the streets of the same, and say,
Even the very dust of your city, which cleaveth on us, we do wipe off against you: notwithstanding be ye sure of this, that the kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.
But I say unto you, that it shall be more tolerable in that day for Sodom, than for that city.
Luke 10:10-12
Why would Jesus say this?
Hey, if a city rejected one of these 72 ministers, they were rejecting the Kingdom of God.
Woah…
Now, think about that.
If you reject the word of God, then you are rejecting His Kingdom.
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Look, we’re not going to live within the kingdom of men forever. One day, we’re going to pass on, and we’re going to enter… The Kingdom of God. However, that doesn’t mean you’re a part of it.
Nope!
It means you’ll be a spectator, but you won’t be a part of that marvelous Kingdom.
Let me paint you a better picture.
Jesus told us, we are in the world, but we are not a part of it, right, (John 17:14-16)?
Now, let’s put this together…
We live within the kingdom of men, but we are not a part of the kingdom of men. We don’t enjoy their wickedness, the pervasiveness, and their rejection of God.
Yet, never fear.
One day, we will live within the Kingdom of God and we will be a part of it. In fact, we’ll be kings and priests and rule within God’s Kingdom, (Revelation 5:10). We will enjoy being a part of a Kingdom that truly does righteous works, a Kingdom that serves the Creator.
So all these people today, who don’t love God, those who hate Him…
They better yuck it up right now, because I have news for them. This life is their reward, this is their kingdom, (Matthew 6:2). They’ll live in the next — until Judgment Day — but they’ll never be a part of the only Kingdom that ever mattered.
They had their chance, they rejected the minister, which means, they rejected our Heavenly Father.