We Are God's Messengers

Short Talk (SHT158) We are God’s Messengers © Jane Hulme 2019 Aim of Short talk: Use of Short talk: Main themes: Biblical references: Lectionary: Props: To encourage people to look and see the people who haven’t yet heard the good news of Jesus and then to have the courage to share it with them. This is a short All Age talk picking out one issue from the Lectionary Gospel reading of the Sunday main service. The talk stands alone and assumes that the Gospel Bible reading may not yet have been read to the congregation. It could be used for example, for the whole congregation before the children go out to their age specific groups, leaving the adults with a full sermon later. Evangelism, Messengers, Faith Sharing, Kingdom of God Luke 10:1-11,16-20 Year C – 3rd Sunday after Trinity You will need: • A table with 5 chairs around it and with 5 plates on it. • 3 baskets each containing 5 pieces of really fresh bread SHORT TALK: “We are God’s Messengers.” .................................................................................................................. Today I have some really delicious bread on my table. • Is anyone hungry and would like to come and share some of my bread? (Choose 4 volunteers – preferably older children) • Come and sit at my table. (Volunteers sit down with you at the table. Pass around one of the baskets of bread and encourage your volunteers to each take a piece and eat it!) What delicious bread.....are you enjoying it? • SoamI. Now I wonder if anyone else in this room is hungry like you and me. • Have a look out at the congregation...... • I think that some of them look rather hungry too, don’t you? Much as I love sitting here with the 4 of you, I think that it is time that we shared this delicious bread with other people. • We have 2 more baskets of bread on this table, so I would like you to get into pairs. • One of you carry the bread basket, and one of you hand out the bread to anyone who puts up their hand to say that they are hungry. • Could you do that now? (Your volunteers pick up the bread baskets) Please put up your hand if you would like a piece of bread and we will see if we can get a piece to you. (Congregation put up their hands if they want to receive a piece of bread and the bread is distributed as quickly as possible by the volunteers) Thank you....would you like to sit down. (Volunteers sit down) © Jane Hulme 2019 2 Many of us enjoy eating fresh bread, don’t we? • Bread is life-giving.....it feeds our bodies. • When Jesus walked the earth, He said that HE is the bread of life because knowing Him and obeying what He says is life-giving to our spirits. Now Jesus spent much of His time with His 12 disciples, • sharing the good news of God’s love with them, • teaching them about God’s kingdom and • demonstrating His power by healing those who were sick. For the disciples, it may have been a bit like what you saw happening earlier with me sitting at the table with my 4 volunteers, enjoying sharing something life-giving together. But one day Jesus told His disciples that there were many other people apart from them who needed to hear the good news about God’s kingdom, (Luke 10:2) and that they were to go out and be God’s messengers. • So, Jesus chose 72 of them and sent them out in pairs to take His life-giving message about God’s kingdom to other places. • Wherever the disciples went they shared with the people there what they had received from Jesus, and the result was that some people were brought into God’s Kingdom and others were healed too. You and I have had the privilege of hearing God’s wonderful message that we are loved by Him and that through Jesus’ death and resurrection we can enjoy the blessing of relationship with Him. • Many of us have come into God’s Kingdom, and like the disciples, Jesus recruits us to be messengers too. Jesus wants us to look out and see that there are many many people who haven’t ever heard about Him. • Many people have never heard that God loves them and that He wants a relationship with them. • Many people are spiritually hungry but don’t know where to go to find the bread of life. • You and I mustn’t simply hold onto God’s message for ourselves, but we need to have the courage to share the Kingdom message with anyone who will listen to us. Some of us will find that easy to do, whereas others of us find it harder.... • So how about looking at it this way? We are used to chatting with our friends and colleagues about the things that are going on in our lives. • Is there a story about something that God has done in your life that you could add to those conversations? So today, let us ask Father God to give us opportunities to share what we have received from Jesus with other people, and courage to do it, so that no-one goes hungry. © Jane Hulme 2019 3