The 3 men stood in front of the sheriff, looking at him solemnly.
‘It’s not looking good’ said the sheriff (we'll call him Malcolm) ‘The rain has washed away the bridge. During the night many cars have driven over the edge and into the river.’

‘What can we do’ asked one young council worker.

‘You must stand on the side of the road and warn the drivers not to make the left turn onto the bridge’

‘But they drive so fast! How can we warn them?’

‘By wearing these sandwich signs’ (bring out three signs - explain what a s s is)
‘stand with them along the road till we can get someone to out to fix the bridge’

So the men rushed out to the bending bridge approach.

1. ‘The drivers should see me first’ The others agreed. His sign warned ‘Bridge Out’ He walked several 100 meters and took his post.

2. ‘Perhaps I should be second,  so the drivers will slow down’ - ‘Reduce speed’

3. So the third person stood just before the T junction before the bridge, where the road split - a main road onto the bridge, and a narrow track on the right. His sign - ‘ right road only - with an arrow’

And so the three men stood there with their 3 signs, ready to warn travellers of the washed out bridge. As the cars approached, the first man would stand straight, so the drivers could read ‘Bridge out’. The next man would gesture to his sign telling cars to ‘reduce speed.’ As motorists slowed down, they would see the last sign and take the narrow road.

Hundreds of lives were saved by these sign holders. They did their job, and many were kept from danger.

But after a few hours, they got a bit lax.

1. The first man got a bit sleepy. ‘I’ll sleep where people can read my sign as I sleep. He took his sign off, and propped it against a big rock. He leaned against it, and promptly fell asleep. As he slept, his arm slid over the sign, so instead of reading ‘bridge out’ - it just stated ‘bridge’

2. The second man, while not growing tired, grew conceited. The longer he stood there, the more important he felt. A few people even pulled over to thank him - ‘we may have died if you hadn't warned us’ people applauded. ‘You're so right’ he thought to himself. ‘How many people would have died if it was not for me?

So he came to think that he was just as important as the sign. So, he took it off, set the sign up on the ground, and stood beside it. However, unbeknown to him, he blocked one word of the sign, so instead of reading ‘reduce speed’, is just said reduce. Most drivers thought he was advertising a diet centre.

The third man was not tired like the first,  nor was he self consumed like the second. He was only concerned with the message on his sign - ‘right road only’ This troubled him, that its message was so narrow, so dogmatic. He thought to himself ‘people should have more choice in the matter. Who am I to tell them which is the right road and which is the wrong road?’

So he decided to alter the wording of the sign.

# Change the word ‘only’ to ‘preferred’

Still not right ‘a bit to stringent. Best not to moralize'

# cross out ‘preferred’ write ‘suggested’

This still didn't seem right. After all, it may offend some people if they think I'm suggesting I know something they don't

So he thought and thought and finally

# cross out suggested

replaced it with a more neutral phrase

# write ‘right road - one of two equally valid alternatives.

‘Just right he thought’

And so, as the first man slept, the second man stood and the third altered the message, one car after another plunged into the river.
 

Signs
- they can tell us what's ahead.
 - they can act to warn us
 - they can tell us what we need to do.

John the Baptist was - a sign.
He was 6 months older than Jesus. Before Jesus started his public ministry of teaching preaching and healing the sick, John stood there, told them what was ahead, warned them, and told them what they needed to do.
 

GOD IS COMING
I'm not him but he is coming and he is coming soon.
What more can I say, I'm not going to pull any punches.
It's going to happen. God is coming, and when he comes something very special is going to happen.
 

HERE'S A WARNING
‘You brood of vipers’ - this is not the kind of statement you make to someone you're trying to befriend. The equivalent to calling someone a scum bag
Just because you're descendants of Abraham, just because your forefathers walked with God, don't think you can just do what you like. What John's saying is - I don't care weather your parents were pillars of the church, on parish council, or your fathers a minister. You have to live being ready for Gods coming. God's people had always thought the day of the lord would be a day of celebration, but the prophets have been warning that the day might not be as good as everyone may have hoped. Some people will not be happy to see the lord.
 

THERE'S SOMETHING YOU'VE GOT TO DO
Repent and be baptized. Turn from the way you've been living
Start living God's way. Turn away from selfishness, be content, live under Gods authority.

John was a sign, and people were taking notice of what we had to say. He was such an important sign, that all eyewitness accounts (gospels) mention him
 
 

IN A FEW WEEKS -
some people here are going to stand here (kneel) and be confirmed. This is an opportunity for them to Confirm those promises made when they were younger.

Why should they bother?

1. God is coming
God came in the man Jesus Christ. When we see Jesus, we see God the Father, and Jesus told anyone who cared to listen that the Kingdom would come soon. In fact, in many ways the Kingdom of God is already here in our lives now, because God has revealed himself through J.C. This Kingdom will come and have no end and know no bounds.

2. We've been warned
Ignore the message of Jesus, and you do so at your peril. Don't take the message of Jesus seriously, and you could end up in a serious mess. Fail to make a response to the message, and when the day of judgement comes, even if you cry out ‘Lord Lord’ - Jesus will say, go away - for I never knew you.

3.  If we believe this, then we really should do something about it.
Reject all that is evil, and turn to God
Ask for the Power of the holy spirit to daily increase in them.
In confirmation - we confirm these promises - like confirming your seat on a plane

It is a sign that we are disciples of Christ. We become a sign.
By our lives we point towards Christ.

SO, how are we to live. As lights to the world - pointing a lost world to the saviour.

3. Dangers
1. Fall asleep. Completely forget about what you've done

2. Think that your so good and that god will be so proud of you, so that people can no longer see god working in you

3. Change what it is you originally promised. Move away from that which we read about.

When you take that step - how serious are you, and will you rely on God to keep to your promises