Rev Bill

I have finally posted my sermon from last Sunday on my sermon blog! It’s the third in my stewardship series this year — based on Matthew 25:1-4 and entitled “Let’s Be Wise Guys And Wise Gals”.

Here’s a portion of it:

I read recently about a man was converted to Christ through the work of the Salvation Army. He and his wife were so uneducated that neither could read or write.
He started worshiping regularly at the Salvation Army services — but one day he came home looking glum. When his wife asked what was wrong, he said, “All the people in the Salvation Army wear red sweaters, and I don’t have a red sweater.”
His wife said, “I’ll knit one!” –– and she proceeded to do that. So the next Sunday, the man went to the worship service dressed in his red sweater. But he came hone looking glum once again. His wife asked what was wrong, and he said, “I just noticed that all their red sweaters have yellow writing.”
Keep in mind that neither the man nor his wife could read or write, so they had no idea what the yellow writing on the Salvation Army red sweaters meant.
The Salvation Army symbol is a yellow eight-pointed star with the words “Blood & Fire” written in red letters.
But this man wasn’t sophisticated enough to understand that. He just knew that there was a yellow symbol on the Salvation Army sweaters, and he wanted one on his sweater — so his wife agreed to embroider some yellow writing on his sweater.
But she was illiterate too, so she had no idea what the letters should say or how she should say it. So she walked downtown and looked in some of the store windows. She found some writing in one of the windows that didn’t have too many letters –– she thought that she could copy those letters onto her husband’s sweater. So she wrote down the letters exactly as she found them in that store window and went home to embroider those letters onto her husband’s sweater.
The next Sunday, the man went to church again. When he came home, his wife asked if the people liked his sweater. He told her that they loved his sweater. In fact, some of them said that they liked his sweater better than their own.
So what was it that the wife had copied from the store window sign?
What was it that she embroidered onto her husband’s sweater?
It was this:
“Under New Management!”
That’s what the sign in the window said, and that’s what the wife had embroidered onto her husband’s sweater –– “Under New Management!”

Isn’t that what it means to be a Christian?
That’s what it takes to get ready to answer the questions God might put ton us.
That’s what it means to live wisely.
That’s what it means to be a wise guy.
That’s what it means to be a wise gal.

You can read the sermon here.

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