Sermons
Sheba's Story
10/23/07
Scripture:
I Kings 10:4—10In last week’s sermon I mentioned a certain word. Some of us were not here last Sunday to hear that certain word. But you are here today and I am going to rehearse that word again. Before I share the word that is central to Sheba’s experience, I will share two stories.
I read a story about a financial consultant who held a seminar for which he charged $95 per person. He had fewer than ten people show up. He became frustrated. Then he tried a different approach. He took the seminar to another city. This time he charged $995. Over three hundred people attended. The difference? Although the content was the same, people expected to receive more from a $995 seminar than they did from a $95 seminar.
The second story is about the time three persons visited the Grand Canyon. Another person was there who asked these three persons about their perspectives on the Canyon. The first person said that the Canyon was obviously an extravagant display of geological formations. The second person responded that the Canyon was no doubt one of the most picturesque and artistically scintillating scenes in existence. The third person simply said, This is the biggest hole in the ground I have ever seen! These two stories do not use the actual word I will share with you in a moment. The stories mention expectations and perspective. These two words are very good synonyms of the word perception.
Sheba’s story is a story of perception. Her story reminds us that the world looks on the outside, so what is our church showing them. Her journey from the outside of the temple to the inside of the temple ought to be our story. It is, for me, the most fantastic stewardship story in Scripture. It should be every person’s story!
I. Sheba was empty on the inside
II. Sheba connected with God’s reality
III. Sheba found Solomon to be wise
IV. Sheba found the temple experience to be better than what she had been told
V. Sheba encourages the people to be proud of their temple and its leaders
Conclusion: Sheba follows up her _________________ ___________________
by __________ _______ ________________ _____________ ____ ____________ ________________. One of the Jesus stories in the New Testament shows that the Sheba perception is not Sheba’s alone. Jesus is visiting in a home. One of the women in the house comes toward Jesus. She quickly kneels down, breaks open a container of precious ointment. She lavishes the ointment on Jesus’ feet. She then uses her hair to bathe the feet of Jesus with the ointment. What does our perspective of God, First Church, its leaders, its ministries, lead us to do?
