Living Expectantly

Matthew 24:32- 25:13

A Message from Jesus to the church:

“Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door. I tell you the truth, this generation* will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.”—Matthew 24:32-35 *Greek translated race

What thing is Jesus saying they will see?  The fourteen things that he had just prophesied about:

Responding to the Invitation

Matthew 21:28-44, 22:1-14

Good morning and welcome.  We are closing in on the end of this summer’s series on the parables of Jesus.  Today’s message is next to last.  Fred will close out the series next Sunday.

Somewhere back when Carl was putting the series together, he mentioned that we would be grouping the parables more topically rather than reading them chronologically which is exactly what we’ve done.  That’s one advantage of the series.  Each message stands on its own.  You should be able to pick up in any message without feeling lost.

It could just be a figment of my imaginative memory, but I also thought he mentioned back in those early discussions, we would not or might not cover all the parables.

How many parables did Jesus tell?  I’ve seen estimates between 40 and 46.  You might object, “How can you not know how many parables there are!”  Well, Jesus told parables more than once.  And, there are clearly parables that are similar but not the same.  The two parables last week were like that.  So, do you count those two as being the same or different?  There are other parables which are the same parable told at the same time, but recorded in more than one gospel.  If you count in order to get the maximum number of parables recorded including duplicates, you’ll end up with more than 60 in total.

Rewarding Faithfulness

Luke 19:11-27, Matthew 25:14-30

I love the word faithfulness. It’s not a very exciting or flashy word. A faithful person doesn’t really stand out from the crowd. Maybe faithful makes you think of an old dog that maybe isn’t too smart but always wants to be with you. But to be fair to dogs, their faithfulness is one of the things that makes them so appealing as pets and leads people to become so bonded with them. They are always glad to see you when you have been away. Their love (if you can really call it that) seems so simple and unconditional. They act like their lives revolve around you – which, I guess, they do.

I’m not sure that I want to use a dog as the best example of faithfulness. I wonder if they are guided more by instinct than by a conscious decision to love. But in any case, faithfulness is a wonderful quality in any relationship. We appreciate having faithful friends that we can count on to help us and support us in any circumstance. Of course, God, with his completely trustworthiness and unfailing love is our ultimate example of faithfulness, and faithfulness is what He calls us to in our relationship with Him.

Understanding God and Self

Luke 18:1-14

Welcome! How many of you have ever had to judge? If you have ever been on a jury you should raise your hand. If you are a parent you should certainly raise your hand. I think all of us at various times and in various ways are called on to judge, to make a decision about guilt or innocence or to decide what is appropriate going forward in some issue involving people. 

 

Today we look at two parables from Luke 18, and I would argue that both of these involve a judge. In the first parable this is very obvious, but if you think about it, you will see that it is also true in the second. The Old Testament has some powerful advice for judges that I think is as relevant today as it was when it was written, so I thought we would look at this first before going into our main passages today. The passage I want us to consider is from 2 Chronicles 19, and it involves the actions and instructions of Jehoshaphat king of Judah.