Last Sunday, we studied The Parable of the Tenants (Mat. 21:33-44). In Jesus’ story, the vineyard owner, God, has provided everything needed for the tenants to produce a successful crop. This leaves two primary responsibilities with the tenants - work faithfully, and return the owner’s share of the harvest to him. In the parable, the tenants (the religious people of Jesus’ day) killed the prophets and ultimately Jesus. They were not faithful and were punished (Mat. 21:42-44).

We are also tenants in this story. We have all been entrusted with vineyards, hearts that have been prepared by God to produce good fruit (Eph. 2:8-10). Pastor Paul compared life to climbing an extension ladder. No one sits down in the middle, puts up their feet, and has a sandwich. You’re either moving forward or backward. So, how’s your ladder? Have you strapped a La-Z-Boy to it and started to slide backward? Or are you, like the Apostle Paul, “pressing on toward the goal to win the prize,” (Phil. 3:13-14)?