Any speaker knows a good story is as important as the core material in a public talk of any kind.
In seminary they called them windows into the message. Sometimes they’ll just fall out of the air.
For instance, I was looking for a good story this week until yesterday when I locked my office, left the church, and couldn’t get in my pickup. I’d left the keys in my office and had no spare.
Kelly was home sick, Linda was in Pennsylvania, Mike was in Pennsylvania, Randy was in Augusta, and I don’t know anyone else who has an office key. I called Kelly and she didn’t answer. I called several people and finally got Van; he came with a church key, but didn’t have an office key.
Then Kelly called and offered to send Josh with the key. Meanwhile, Van and I found a hammer and screwdriver and started trying to take the hinge pins out. We got them out, but couldn’t get the office door off the hinges. Then Josh walked in, an angel from God for the situation.
All that to say, Jesus has the keys to the kingdom of God and in Romans 5, there are seven benefits to being in the kingdom of God.
• Now that we have been put right with God through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Justification by faith brings seven benefits; first, peace — the peace that surpasses our understanding!
• He has brought us by faith into this experience of God’s grace, in which we now live. And so we boast of the hope we have of sharing God’s glory. Second, access to the throne of God, the veil in front of the “Holy of Holies” was torn asunder and we can walk in as members of the family of God. And third, “the hope we have”… “And (in the end) these three remain, faith, hope and love!” And yesterday, I needed all of the above.
• We also boast of our troubles, because we know trouble produces endurance. Fourth, troubles that produce patience — sometimes it’s spelled p-e-r-s-i-s-t-e-nc- e. Patience is not waiting patiently for something to happen, it’s working patiently and persistently to make something happen.
What I didn’t tell you earlier was that my wife, Mary Ella, was home, 10 miles north of town waiting for me to pick her up to take her to a hair appointment. It was her first hair appointment since she broke her leg on the last Saturday in January.
So I was a bit anxious and needed more than ever to hear the message of Romans 5 about “peace with God,” “access to the throne of God,” “the hope we have…” and “patience.”
We walked into her appointment at 1:29.
And I have all the stories I need for this week. (Next week, we’ll talk about the final three benefits of being in the kingdom of God — love, deliverance, and joy.
Charles “Buddy” Whatley is a retired United Methodist pastor serving Dawson Street Methodist Church in Thomasville, Ga. With wife, Mary Ella, they are missionaries to the Navajo Reservation.
