Someone requested that I do a little sermonette on Sunday's. I don't promise one of these every week but I will as the Lord prompts me.So if no one minds, here's the first. Our text this morning is taken from
John 1:12-13
12Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God"” 13children born not of natural descent,[c] nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.
Before I began pastoring, I attended the same Assembly of God church for almost forty years. I started attending when I was very young, even before I could drive. At that time, the churchhad a huge bus ministry, consisting mainly of about twentyold broken down, worn out, second or third hand buses. This obviously was before the days of insurance companies making the cost so prohibitive you couldn't do it. Because my parents didn't attend church, I had to go to church on the bus. Thus, I became a "bus kid." The kids that mostly came on these buses, were many timesdirty and obviouslyneglected at home. That wasn't the case with me. My parents, although not attending church, were caring and made sure I was clean and had most things I needed. Heck, they would even give me money to put in the offering plate on Easter Sunday. They just didn't want to get up and take me themselves to church. I gave my heart to Jesus when I was sixteen yrs. old and by then was driving myself to church, no longer riding the bus. Still, there was something within me that said; you are still a "bus kid." You know, the sometimes dirty neglected kid with no parents in the service, kid. This stuck with me for many years. As I grew older and paticipated in the many youth activities and various events our church put on, I never forgot that I wasa "bus kid." Soon I met thegirl I would spend my life with and we raised our three daughters in that church. As I became an adult, I served in various ministries of the church and even served on the board, yet still in my own mind, I was a "bus kid." This mentality led to feelings of inadaquecy and feeling like I didn't belong or measure up to everyone else. The dangers of these feelings include the following misguided attitudes; low self-esteem, a defensive attitude with others, trying to "one-up" the next guy, andlooking up to other people when I should have been looking up to Jesus. All these attitudes were my own fault, the result of being a "bus kid." Then one day I was in the sancuary praying before church began. For some unknown reason I began to think about the scripture in Romans that talks about being grafted in. Romans 11:17
If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root,.... It occured to me, I was no longer an outsider or a wild olive shoot, so to speak. I was actually "part" of the original plant. This was again reinforced to me this last week when, in my weekly mens bible study, I read the verse from the today's text. I was born into God's kingdom in a supernatural way, just like Jesus. He loves you and me that much, to go to all the trouble of engrafting us into His kingdom in a miraculous way. I said all that to say this; if you are out there in a church or any other place and you feel inadequate or you feel like you just don't measure up to everyone else, Jesus has made you part of the vine,
you are a miracle birth. Don't let satan keep bringing up your past androb you of your birthright. No matter where you have been, no matter what you have done, and no matter if at some point, you too have been a "bus kid," you are worth as much to Jesus as anyone else who has ever lived on this planet. No matter if they are kings, queens, presidents, tyrants, emporers, or just "bus kids."
Blessings.....Pastorjim
Grafting in a "bus kid," A Sunday Sermonette.
