Welcome to First Christian Church. I’m so glad that your weekend plans included time with God and with us.
We are in the midst of a five part message series called Wasted Opportunities. I am certain I’m not the only person that has wasted an opportunity in their life. Some wasted opportunities are met with excuses. An excuse is defined as a reason or explanation put forward to defend or justify a fault or offense. Benjamin Franklin said, “He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else.”
It was C.T. Studd that wrote, “Two little lines I heard one day, Traveling along life’s busy way; Bringing conviction to my heart, and from my mind would not depart; Only one life, ’twill soon be past, only what’s done for Christ will last.”
This series reminds us of the words of the church planter and evangelist Paul. In his second letter to followers of Jesus in Corinth, Greece he wrote that we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, does that ever cross your mind?
In answering questions about the end of the age and about His return, Jesus tells a story of someone that wasted an important opportunity. His 30 word excuse could not justify his wasted opportunity nor shift the blame away from him. In Jesus story, the person that wasted the opportunity is referred to as useless and wicked. Two others in the story were referred to as good and faithful. The two described as good and faithful didn’t have excuses; they had results.
If you met Jesus today how many words would you need to excuse away your wasted opportunities? Would you be met with the greeting of good and faithful servant?
Pastor Randy