Dressed and Ready for Service

August 7, 2016                                                                                  

Traveling Mercy Ministries Report

Visa Issues in Benin; forced to return to US;

Hoping to fix problem and return.

 

Dressed and Ready for Service

Luke 12:32-40

 

Synopsis: I have two object lessons to open my sermon with today.  The first was planned and the second just popped up.  First, tomorrow morning school kids in this area will be getting dressed and ready.  Some are excited by the thought, others, well … not so much.  Ready or not; excited or not the regular school term starts in earnest tomorrow.  Second, last week, Michael and Marley packed their bags and headed off to Benin.  They were “dressed and ready for service,” but were turned back at the airport in Benin.  We all felt that.  Next week, they will attempt to go again.

      My sermon title is “Dressed and Ready for Service,” but I am not just talking about going back to school or even Benin.  I begin reading from Luke 12:32-40, NLT.  In it Jesus uses a very familiar experience as an object lesson for “Kingdom” living.  The ones who will be rewarded are the ones who are dressed and ready for service at his return.  They are the ones who are daily engaged in doing the work of the kingdom (Hebrews 11:13-16).  Sometimes I think we forget how to do good.  The word of the Lord came to Isaiah admonishing the people of Judah and Jerusalem to “learn to do good” (Isaiah 16:17).  When believers take their eyes off heaven it is easy for them to forget who they are and to whom they belong.

 

Text (NLT): Luke 12:32-40; Hebrews 11:13-16; Isaiah 1:1, 10-20

 

Scripture Reading: Isaiah 1:18-20