Reality Check: Hard Kingdom Challenges and Christ’s Ultimate Triumph

Kingdom work can be hard and even thankless, yet there’s great glory God will accomplish through it over time. It was this message that Jesus gave in eight parables recorded in Matthew 13. Christ’s goal was to explain “kingdom realities” that His disciples would encounter in their future Gospel ministry—the good and bad—and to instill in them a big-picture perspective. This “reality check” was both detailed and broad in scope: There would be lack of abiding fruit at certain turns and false professors among the brethren—yet over the long haul, Christ’s kingdom would be established and triumph. Though many challenges would arise, the tiny “mustard seed” Jesus spoke of would, indeed, flourish into a towering tree that encompassed the whole world. In this talk, Wesley Strackbein surveys the full tapestry of Christ’s eight-parable message, urging God’s people not to grow “weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not” (Gal. 6:9).