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Luke 19:11-27

Have you ever got sick of routine? Let's all say Y - E - S !

Routine gets monotonous. I used to work for Continental Can Company. Many of the tasks we had to do were just the same old thing. Sometimes life gets to be just the same old, same old………..same old thing! I also remember a job I had working for the Whirlpool Corporation making sweepers. I worked on an assembly line and the line would move at a certain speed. You had to do the same thing to the same housing as it passed by for eight hours at a time. You talk about

boring……..boring, boring, boring.

Life sometimes can seem boring. You know:

• Get up in the morning
• Wash your face
• Comb your hair
• Brush your teeth
• Get dressed
• Have breakfast……..let's see: will it be cereal and coffee or coffee and toast or coffee and cereal or toast and coffee or, or…………
• Go to work
• Come home
• Eat supper
• Go to bed

My wife has a certain routine in the mornings that takes about an hour.

Sometimes we get tired of the mundane, ho hum existence.

But life is not really that bad until you can't do the things you normally do especially if you have broken an arm or broken a leg or you don't have an arm or a leg or you are blind or you can't hear and then all of a sudden it really would be great to be bored with routine.

People allow the boredom of routine to effect their lives.

• That's why marriages collapse
• That's why people do stupid things
• That's why people run away from families
• The list is endless

And so it is spiritually in life. People get bored with routine:

• Sunday morning/Sunday night……………..go to church
• Pray every day
• Read my Bible
• Give, give, give
• Always helping somebody
• Always something at the church to do

It's the same old thing:

• Sunday morning church
• 8 a.m. Pastor's Prayer Partners
• Sunday night church
• Daughters of Zion Prayer
• Tuesday 1:00 Prayer
• Wednesday night church

And then there is the church service:

• Worship
• Prayer
• Sing songs…………we sing that song 30 times
• Take an offering
• Have a special song
• Sing another song
• Have prayer
• Choir sings
• Preacher preaches

Routine………….mundane……….same old thing………………

Mat. 25:14; Mark 13:34 He said therefore, A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return.'

11 And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten [a]Mina, here translated a pound, is twelve ounces and a half; which according to five shillings the ounce is three pounds two shillings six pence pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come. KJV

While the people were listening to these things, Jesus told them a story. He was near Jerusalem. The people thought that God's kingdom was going to appear right away.

12 Jesus said, "A man from an important family went to a country far away. He went there to be made king and then return home. 13 So he sent for ten of his servants. He gave them each about three months' pay. 'Put this money to work until I come back,' he said. N I Readers V

11 While they were listening to this, he went on to tell them a parable, because he was near Jerusalem and the people thought that the kingdom of God Mt 3:2 was going to appear at once. Lk 17:20Ac 1:6 [12] He said: "A man of noble birth went to a distant country to have himself appointed king and then to return. [13] So he called ten of his servants Mk 13:34 and gave them ten minas. [a] A mina was about three months' wages. 'Put this money to work,' he said, 'until I come back.' NIV

'Do business till I come."

1.) The "Certain Nobleman" symbolized the Lord Jesus
2.) The "Far Country" to which the Nobleman went symbolized heaven.
3.) The "Servants" symbolized Christians
4.) "His Citizens" symbolized unbelievers
5.) The "Mina" represented the equal opportunity of life itself for a Christian.

God endows each of us with time, talents, opportunities and His Word. This is not to say that everyone is endowed quantitatively or qualitatively to the same extent.

Obviously, some live longer lives than others. We possess differing levels of innate talent or ability and our mental acumen varies widely. The number and quality of opportunities that come to us differs.

What this does mean is that for the tasks God gives us to do, He will provide each of us with all that is necessary to do them. If faith the size of a grain of mustard seed is all that is needed to move the mountains in your life...then that is the size of the faith you will be given. Christians often pray for faith the size of a mountain before they will confront the "mustard seeds" in their life! Consider this little verse that is still very relative:

"To each is given a block of time...and a bag of tools;

...And the Word of God for a Book of Rules;

For each to build…in this life alone;

...A stumbling-block or a stepping stone."

What we need to understand is that Jesus knows what He is doing.

He said occupy UNTIL I come. He did not say how long.

Remember when Peter asked Jesus about John, "what about him". Jesus said "what's that to you if I decide for him to live till I return? Follow me."

Peter, you just do what I tell you to do and don't worry about John.

Our problem so many times is we are so worried about everybody else.

Well, Jesus, what about them?

They are casting out devils in your name!

Routine…………Just the same old thing!

I'm tired of doing the same old thing……………

" Go to church
" Pray
" Read the Bible
" Go to church
" Pray
" Read the Bible

Is that all you people ever do?

The Bible says about Enoch simply:

"And Enoch walked with God: Genesis 5:24

"And Enoch walked with God after he begat (had a son) Methuselah 300 years…"

Where you going Enoch? Oh, I think I'll just walk with God today.

Enoch walked with God. Do you think Enoch ever got bored? Ever got tired of

routine? Ever had problems? Remember he had sons and daughters.

"What are you doing today Enoch?"

"Oh, just thought I would have a little walk with the Lord."

Don't you ever get tired of just walking with the Lord?

Adam and Eve must have. Got tired of all the fruit trees. Got tired of hearing the voice of the Lord walking in the garden in the cool of the day. Boring, boring!!!

Don't get bored walking with God.

Don't get bored reading your Bible.

Don't get bored praying.

Don't get bored looking for His coming!

Occupy until I come.

"Do business until I come"

The length of time that the nobleman was away from his country is not stated or even suggested…and intentionally so. Jesus, Himself, declared:

"But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Take heed, watch and pray; for you do not know when the time is. "It is like a man going to a far country, who left his house and gave authority to his servants, and to each his work, and commanded the doorkeeper to watch. Watch therefore, for you do not know when the master of the house is coming--in the evening, at midnight, at the crowing of the rooster, or in the morning-- lest, coming suddenly, he find you sleeping." Mark 13:32-36 (NKJV).