Break Out of Our Comfort Zones—Part 3
I believe everyone dreams that dream. If only there really were a king, a good and righteous king.
Certainly the destitute of the world hold to such a dream. But then, I believe, so do the most beautiful of entertainers, the most influential of leaders, even the most moneyed and educated and acclaimed.
We are the ones who know there really is a King, aren’t we?
Once His dream for this world had first place in our hearts. Now maybe the dream seems a bit fuzzy. It’s not as clear as it was before. Possibly other dreams have crowded it out. We’re not as willing to take the risks we once took to see that dream fulfilled. We’re older now, more guarded.
“Three minutes! Three minutes!”
As a lonely understudy, Thespia had determined to be the finest player in all Enchanted City. Unlike the other actresses, who became arrogant and haughtily cut all ties with their pasts, Thespia perfected her art in the streets. She refused to become enamored with the sterile practice rooms, the posh living suites, and the luxuries of the Palace of Players. She bound up her flaxen hair with common cloth and walked the marketplace, listening to how real people spoke words.
Often she went back to her own people, to Moire Oxan where they lived, to the stacked hovels where she had been raised. There she carried old grannys’ burdens that weighed their bent backs double and she brought tidbits of food for the always-hungry waifs. She wept when orphans were taken away to the Orphan Keeper and she felt the cold whistling through these always night lives, and remembered what it was to never have enough fire or power.
Their pain became her own, and their small and meager joys as well. Because she did not despise them, she was loved: and it was they, the street people sitting on the gallery floor, who called her name.
One night, one terrible night, her cousin’s wee babe wriggled in agony in Thespia’s arms while searchers hunted its mother who was foraging in a city-edge workshift. It squinched up its tiny face, took a last, long breath, and died. Shuddering with sobs, Thespia hid in a tower of the Players’ Palace. How could she act the next night, play the comic, with this terrible knowledge—that babies died who shouldn’t die in Enchanted City. She grieved with new understanding—there was little she, or anyone, could do.
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Sunday’s coming. Do you have your sermon ready? Is it relevant? Will it effectively motivate your congregation to walk more in step with the Master? What about that Sermon Series you’ve been thinking about?
Or, if you’re someone who plans well ahead, have you asked yourself what you will preach for your Easter Sermon, your Advent Sermon, your Christmas Sermon?
David Mains and Mainstay Ministries can help. We offer a wide variety of Sermon Starters and Full Sermons that will give you Sermon Ideas to help you prepare for regular Saturday or Sunday sermons, Mid-week Bible Sermons, and Sermons for special occasions.
We also offer assistance as you create Topical Sermons, Sermons Series, and sermons for special times of the year. We have resources available to help you with Advent Celebrations, Advent Sermons, Christmas Sermons, Easter Sunday Sermons, Patriotic Sermons, and more.
For more information on how to create better Bible Sermons and how to turn Sermon Ideas into Sermon Outlines, and then into effective, meaningful Sunday Sermons, please click here to visit David Mains’ website.
You will also find a variety of resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries website. Just click here.
