Intersections: Prepare the Way -- FPC sermon excerpt
We’re Number Two!
Ahead of us is only New York City. But don’t feel badly: In this particular competition, we don’t want to be Number One.
I’m talking about traffic congestion. Our average one-way commute is now 33 minutes, and we residents of the DC area spend an average of 69 hours a year in traffic jams. “This is like the Olympics of gridlock,” said Lon Anderson of AAA to The Washington Post (May 10, 2005). Sometimes it seems as though we are going for the gold — although this is not an honor that should make any of us proud.
Unfortunately, our population is growing and not enough roads and rail lines are being built to meet the need. For the near future, it looks as though we are going to have to expect more time on choked highways, and less time with our families.
That’s the bad news. But don’t despair — I have some good news for you as well.
In the Gospel of Luke, John the Baptist sounds like a traffic engineer when he cries out, “Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low … the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth” (Luke 3:4-5).
John is firing up his earthmovers — filling valleys, knocking down mountains, leveling hills. He is cranking up his cement-mixers — pouring concrete to make the rough ways smooth and the crooked lanes straight. John is building a highway for the Lord, one that will help all of us to “see the salvation of God” (v. 6).
John knows that you cannot keep doing things the same way and expect a different result. That, in a nutshell, is the definition of insanity. Fully aware of this, John appears on the scene with a radically new message — a message of good news that gives people a fresh way to make a connection with God. You see, there was every bit as much congestion in his world as there is in ours today — Luke goes to great pains to describe how John appeared “In the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was ruler of Galilee, and his brother Philip ruler of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis” … yada, yada, yada (v. 1). Through all this congestion and gridlock John breaks through with a message that fills valleys, knocks down mountains, smoothes rough roads, and creates straight paths.
John’s message is this: turn away from sin, receive forgiveness, and prepare to meet the Messiah.
Ahead of us is only New York City. But don’t feel badly: In this particular competition, we don’t want to be Number One.
I’m talking about traffic congestion. Our average one-way commute is now 33 minutes, and we residents of the DC area spend an average of 69 hours a year in traffic jams. “This is like the Olympics of gridlock,” said Lon Anderson of AAA to The Washington Post (May 10, 2005). Sometimes it seems as though we are going for the gold — although this is not an honor that should make any of us proud.
Unfortunately, our population is growing and not enough roads and rail lines are being built to meet the need. For the near future, it looks as though we are going to have to expect more time on choked highways, and less time with our families.
That’s the bad news. But don’t despair — I have some good news for you as well.
In the Gospel of Luke, John the Baptist sounds like a traffic engineer when he cries out, “Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low … the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth” (Luke 3:4-5).
John is firing up his earthmovers — filling valleys, knocking down mountains, leveling hills. He is cranking up his cement-mixers — pouring concrete to make the rough ways smooth and the crooked lanes straight. John is building a highway for the Lord, one that will help all of us to “see the salvation of God” (v. 6).
John knows that you cannot keep doing things the same way and expect a different result. That, in a nutshell, is the definition of insanity. Fully aware of this, John appears on the scene with a radically new message — a message of good news that gives people a fresh way to make a connection with God. You see, there was every bit as much congestion in his world as there is in ours today — Luke goes to great pains to describe how John appeared “In the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was ruler of Galilee, and his brother Philip ruler of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis” … yada, yada, yada (v. 1). Through all this congestion and gridlock John breaks through with a message that fills valleys, knocks down mountains, smoothes rough roads, and creates straight paths.
John’s message is this: turn away from sin, receive forgiveness, and prepare to meet the Messiah.
posted by Henry Brinton | 10:35 AM
1 Comments:
Very well done! I am responding to an article you wrote in USA Today; an on-line posting, concerning the health of the Body of Christ and Us- The clergy at large. My wife Tia and I have been commissioned by the Lord to run with this message of heath after serving nearly a decade as a professional Strength and Conditioning Coach.
Thanks for giving us another stepping stone in reaching the lost to experience what true Salvation is. Keep up the great work.
www.kingdomconditioning.org
Blessings to you and your family...
Pastors Ron & Tia Kardashian
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