Being ready does not mean our lives are completely in order, it means out hearts are with the groom. Five of the bridesmaids' hearts were with the bride and groom and five weren't. When we wait with hope for the coming of the Lord in the future, we learn to welcome him in our lives today. What is your heart's response to waiting? Does it increase your hope in the one who is coming? We can feed our hope. We can ask the Lord to kindle hope in our hearts.

The good news of the kingdom of heaven is that it is a generous kingdom with a generous king. God invites everyone to come so that he can pour out his generosity on them not based on what we earn, but on what he will provide. His love is not based on our work, but on our need. If we think that we have earned everything we have, we will think we can keep it. But if we receive everything we have as a gift from a generous father, we can give it away in generosity.

In the Kingdom of Heaven, there is much at stake, and so we, the church, have much responsibility.

On All Saints Sunday, Meghan Beese renewed her baptismal commitment, giving her life to following Jesus!

In the kingdom of heaven, its highest value is that lost sheep are found, lone sheep find a flock, and flocks find the heart of the shepherd for the lost.

Every time someone finds a new day in Jesus. Every time someone finds a new home in the church. Every time someone finds a new heart for their neighbors we rejoice! Because that is what the kingdom of heaven is about.

This story of Jesus begins with a king who settles his accounts (Matthew 18:21-33). But once again the kingdom of heaven doesn’t work the way that other kingdoms work. Forgiveness in this kingdom is not for those who deserve it, it is for those who receive it.

Who is your ultimate authority? Jesus establishes an authority that is completely different than the authority of the government and state. Jesus says, “come to me all who are weary, and I will give you rest.” Jesus deserves all our worship and authority.

The Kingdom of Heaven is a wedding feast. The invitation is expansive because the Lord of the feast wants the wedding hall filled.

The kingdom of heaven is for those who know they need it.

Jesus has come to invite us into the kingdom of heaven, to be shaped by its values, practices, relationships into people whose first culture is a kingdom of heaven culture. The kingdom is here now and it’s worth giving everything we have to enter into it.