Message Outlines

“If you think you are not conceited, it means you are very conceited indeed.”
(CS Lewis, Mere Christianity)

As we enter the season of Advent, four Sundays when we prepare for the feast of Christmas, I was struck by Luke 14 and the fact that four distinct teachings of Jesus are given, all in the context of a feast that Jesus is attending, and each lesson giving us insight into the ultimate feast that is God’s kingdom. 

It seems fitting to me as we approach the feast of Christmas that we might consider these four portraits of the feast of the kingdom.  

We always have a chance to make today a day of redemption. It’s not too late to call him Lord. It’s not too late to gather under the shadow of His wing. It’s not too late to hear His voice, to soften our hearts, and to choose to make today our own day of redemption.

We all want to find meaning behind suffering. The pain of loss is too sharp; the sting too deep to ignore. It is human nature to try to find a reason for pain. But no explanation quite answers the haunting question: why?

Jesus says a storm is coming and a sentence is being handed down. Are we prepared? According to the Bible, we have no umbrella big enough to protect us from His fiery storm, and no bank account rich enough to pay our spiritual debts.

These stories beg the question: what does it look like to a Christian to work the night shift?

Has God ever answered your prayers with a rebuke?

No one is easier to manipulate than a hungry performer. Driven to feed our insecurities by pleasing whatever crowd we can attract, the entertainer in us will do whatever it takes, no matter how disturbing or degrading, to capture that crowd’s flitting attention.

What are you afraid of? The dark? Scary movies? Bills? Public speaking? 

Undercover

“No one after lighting a lamp puts it in a cellar or under a basket, but on a stand, so that those who enter may see the light.” (v33)