YOU BE JESUS
A mother was preparing
pancakes for her sons, Kevin 5 and Ryan 3. The boys began to argue over who
would get the first pancake. Their mother saw the opportunity for a moral
lesson. "If Jesus were sitting here, He would say, Let my brother have
the first pancake. I can wait."
Kevin turned to his younger brother and said, "Ryan, you be Jesus."
YOU
MIGHT WANT TO MOVE YOUR CAT
Two missionaries were
going door to door, and knocked on the door of a woman who was not at all
happy to see them. The woman told them in no uncertain terms, that she did not
want to hear their message and slammed the door in their faces. To her
surprise, however, the door did not close and, in fact, almost magically
bounced back open.
She tried again, really putting her back into it and slammed the door again
with the same amazing result--the door bounced back open.
Convinced that one of the young religious Zealots was sticking their foot in
the door, she reared back to give it a third slam that would really teach them
a lesson, when one of them stopped her and politely said, "Ma'am, before
you do that again, you really should move your cat."
HIT HIM WITH HER LUNCHBOX
There's an old Peanuts
cartoon in which Lucy says to Charlie Brown, "I would have made a
great evangelist." Charlie Brown answers, "Is that so?"
She says, "Yes .I convinced that boy in front of me in school that my
religion is better than his religion." Charlie Brown asked, "Well,
how did you do that?" And Lucy answers, "I hit him over the
head with my lunch box."
No matter how much the
church wants to reach out, growth will not happen if the building and the
people fail to say "Welcome!" --
Gary Harrison in Leadership, Vol. 7, no. 3.
A young lady in our church youth group had the
distinction of a long career in the fast-food business. Unfortunately, she had
an equally long history of absent-mindedness. One Sunday evening at a youth
fellowship, the pastor called on her to bless our evening snacks. The room
became quiet as heads were bowed and eyes closed. Then she greeted God with
these words: "Welcome to McDonalds. May I take your order?"
-- Craig Epp, "Lite Fare," Christian Reader.
Matthew
10:40-42 40
"Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the
one who sent me. 41 Whoever welcomes a prophet in the name of a prophet will
receive a prophet's reward; and whoever welcomes a righteous person in the
name of a righteous person will receive the reward of the righteous; 42 and
whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name
of a disciple -- truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward."
Mat.
10:40 (NIV) "He who receives you receives me, and he who receives me
receives the one who sent me. 41 Anyone who receives a prophet because he is a
prophet will receive a prophet's reward, and anyone who receives a righteous
man because he is a righteous man will receive a righteous man's reward. 42
And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones
because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose
his reward."
God’s
invitation.
You
are invited by God to come into hIs family.
Rev. 3:20
You
are invited by God to become an inviter.
By your invitation you will be giving people the opportunity to come
into the family of God. To welcome others means to receive the people who come into
our lives and make them feel at home.
You
are invited by God to receive his prophets.
By receiving and welcoming God into your life, since these are the
representatives of God.
You
are invited by to God to receive a reward
because of your faithfulness and love to the Lord and to the representatives
of the Lord. Also, you will note
that the warning is that some will loose their reward having not welcomed God
or his representatives.
You
are invited by God to reach out to help meet the needs
of those little ones and be rewarded for your labor of love to the Lord and
his people.
Have
we received the Lord?
Have
we received the disciples of the Lord?
Have
we received God?
Have
we received God’s prophets?
Will
we receive God’s rewards?
Will
we be willing to reach out with a cup of water to those who are in need?
Will
we loose or keep the reward that are given from God?
Have
we represented the Lord to those in the world?
How
are we showing who He is?
How
have we been received?
Will
we receive the invitation from the Lord to become hospitable?