Maxie Fouls Out
By Pamela Potter

Maxie was an outstanding athlete that had been born with the natural abilities to be a success. Maxie loved the sport of basketball and her potential to succeed in this sport was literally unlimited.

Maxie played basketball all through school and people were amazed at how good she was. At a certain age Maxie was drafted to play basketball for a major NBA team (in our story this is a possibility for women), but Maxie's natural born, God-given abilities only could take her so far.

Some of Maxie's success was up to Maxie. To become a starter on the team she had to dedicate herself to long hours of exercise, eating right, getting the right amount of sleep, staying hydrated and a very consistent setting of her focus on a very important upcoming game.

But the date of the game was still undetermined so Maxie thought there was plenty of time to prepare. One day Maxie was getting dressed after a workout and along came Coach Natas from the other team. Now Maxie was unaware that he was a coach for the opposing team and so she unwittingly began talking with him.

After a time, Coach Natas coaxed and tempted Maxie to join him in a week of festivities and partying. It was then that Maxie decided to throw caution to the wind. After all, they didn't even have a date set for the big upcoming game.

It was with this thought that Maxie started to eat whatever she desired, to stay up late playing video games, to dehydrate herself with alcohol and a party lifestyle and to stop practicing - all the while unknowingly consorting with the enemy.

She didn't pursue fellowship with the other players and she certainly didn't focus on the upcoming big game. She kept thinking there would be time later for all that, and sadly she thought that if the game did happen to get scheduled suddenly then the natural abilities that God has given her were enough to get her some playing time.

Well, the night of the big game suddenly arrived! Maxie panicked because she knew that she wasn't prepared. When she entered the gym and stood before the coach she realized that her potential had been squandered, and that while her natural abilities had kept her on the team as a team member, the requirements for playing or even to just sit on the bench had for her, not been met.

She hadn't prepared but had lived for the moment and now her coach was banishing her to the bus.

Maxie noticed the thrill of the players that had qualified and met the requirements to play for the coach. Many of the teammates Maxie recognized as close friends and family members!

Maxie dreaded the thought of being separated from them and the coach that she loved but off to the bus it was for Maxie.

As Maxie sat in the back of the bus alone she wept at the waste of her time before game night had arrived. She saw the lights of the gym and heard the joyous roars of the crowd. She had never wanted so much to be apart of something so big but she couldn't join in.

She was to remain on that bus until the game ended and the team rejoiced in their win. No party would she attend. The loss she felt for being separated from her team she didn't know how long she could bear.

But that enduring, that unbearable loss would have to become bearable for the next 1000 years!

A quick explanation of the above illustration: Maxie is on the team no matter what meaning she is saved and of course, once saved always saved.

Maxie's membership on the team is due to her God-given talent which would be her spiritual salvation, like all of ours, which is the work of Christ alone, never man.

Coach Natas from the other team represents Satan, who is always seeking to steal, kill and destroy Christians. He is always seeking to distract us from God’s plan and purpose for our lives. Among the list of distractions could be video games which steal time away from God, or the television which dulls our mind to the Spirit, or to the pride we desire for our works and toils which causes us to become a thief of God by stealing praise that belongs to Him.

Quite obviously the list of distractions that cause us to stagnate could go on and on. These simple activities are time that could have been sacrificed for the Lord which would then be credited to our account that is kept by Christ in heaven.

Truly I tell you these tools are at use for the battle against us and the enemy tries eagerly to both keep us distracted from the message as well from preparing for our "big game", which would be the Millennial Kingdom.

The Coach of Maxie's team is a type of Christ, judging Maxie's performance and qualifications and personal sacrifice.

The bus typifies the outer darkness (this is where the unfaithful Christians will be for the duration of the Millennial).

Finally, the regret Maxie feels is the "weeping" and "gnashing of teeth" that the unfaithful believer will experience once they realize they had the potential to rule and reign with the King of kings and the Lord of lords throughout the 1,000 years, but instead they gave it up for the pleasures of this world.

It is important I think to say a few things on the intentional release of the Millennial Inheritance:

First, it is there for the taking! Any and all who believe in Christ as the Son has the potential to inherit and I believe that to not inherit is a purposeful act on the part of the believer.

For instance, let's say that someone came to you and told you that you could inherit 5 million dollars if only you would give up caffeine for five years. Wouldn't you do that? Wouldn't any of us do that? People would think us sick in the head if we chose to not do so. And I highly doubt any of us would respond "no, I'm so rich that I think I'll just continue to drink caffeinated beverages"!

More frightening is when we realize that we would willingly follow a set of rules for a temporal, perishable thing (the 5 million dollars) but we aren't willing to deny ourselves and take up our cross daily to have a part in the Millennial Kingdom which the the awesomeness of it is so far above and beyond what our minds are able to comprehend

Second, like a parent with a child, once the Lord has been pushed to His limit, He will disinherit the unfaithful believer. With that, their opportunity for reigning in the Millennial Kingdom will be considered a forfeiture.

Therefore, while it is within the possibility of every believer to inherit the kingdom, ultimately each believer is only given so much time to show themselves approved for that inheritance. Eventually the inheritance, which is Christ's to give to whomever He chooses, is given only if God permits. The scary thing is we don't know when our Father will be fed up with our selfish and self focused lifestyles and when our individual cutoff date may be.

All believers will appear at the Judgment Seat of Christ for their works to be examined by Christ. Paul tells us in 2 Cor. 5:10 that "we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad."

It is at this time that the believer in Christ will be found to have been faithful or unfaithful while on the earth. That judgment is the second most important day of a believer's existence (with the day of spiritual salvation being the most important)!

If you would like more information on the Gospel of the Kingdom please contact us at One Heart Ministries.