The Tale of Three Trees Setting Takes place during a time before the birth of Christ during the birth of Christ and during his preaching ministry leading to the Cross and our redemption.
Today the message was for their family service, involving some youngsters playing the parts of the trees, along with my glove puppet Joe Crow. It was a united service for Good News Church & The New Testament Church of God in Harold Hill at the invitation of Pastor Niyi
1 Corinthians 1:27-29
New International Version (NIV)
27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28 God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that
are not—to nullify the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before him.
The Story Begins
A farmer went out to sow three special seeds. He prepared the ground and planted them in the right place. He watered and nurtured them the sun shone on them. He continued to do this and they grew and grew until they were the tallest in area.
Every day the trees would talk to each other and have discussions. The birds would land on their branches the wind would blow the trees would shake. Each time they would come back to the same subject. They would ask each other what you want to be once you’re “chopped down” and made into something by the carpenter. They thought long and hard about this a toy, a table, or a great big chair. Eventually they made up their minds
The first tree said: I would like to be a bed for a king.
The second tree said: I would like to be a ship for a king.
The third tree said: I would like to be a signpost to show people were to go!
Many years passed by they would take every day over the next 40 years since the seeds were first planted. Then is come to the day when the carpenter came along with his axe to cut down the first of the trees.
The carpenter began to work on the first tree, he began to saw, chiselling , making joints then he rubbed it down with sandpaper. The tree was so excited he thought he was going to be a bed fit for a king! He then looked in the mirror and began to feel very sad. He wasn’t a bed fit for a king but a smelly old feeding trough for animals and was placed in the stable. He was really sad!
The carpenter took the second tree away and began to work on it. Sawing , planed to shape, hammering and chiselling then sandpaper the edges down until it was finished. The tree was so excited he couldn’t wait to look in the mirror. He was very sad when he saw he wasn’t a ship. He was a fishing boat, and was collected by some fishermen. They would take him off to sea empty their nets and he soon became very smelly. The tree was so sad!
The came to cut down the third tree and began to work on it in his workshop. He sawed and hammered and sawed and hammered, chiselled away and used the sandpaper to smooth the edges until it was finished. He was really excited could wait to look in the mirror to see himself as a signpost. He wasn’t a signpost but just a lump of wood. He was the saddest of all the trees.
That’s where the three trees stayed: one a feeding trough, one a fishing boat and one a lump of wood which the carpenter eventually gave to some soldiers. That could be the end. And a very sad ending it would be. But it is not.
One day God decided to send Jesus into the world. Jesus was born in a stable. There was no bed so he was placed in a feeding trough for animals.
When he was older, so many people wanted to hear him speak one day on a beach that he was forced back into the sea. Jesus saw a fishing boat and climbed in and began to speak to the people from there.
When Jesus’ time on earth was nearly finished he died on a cross nothing more than a lump of wood – for all the wrongs we had all done. And three days later, he rose from the grave.Heaven
The trees’ ambitions were fulfilled in the strangest ways.
The first tree wanted to be a bed for a king he became a bed for the King of Kings, King Jesus.
The tree that wanted to be a ship for a king became a ship for the King of Kings, King Jesus.
And the tree that wanted to show all the people which way to go became the tree that was to show the people the way to heaven. He became a signpost to heaven: the cross.
Those three trees were the happiest trees in the entire world. They not only became what they wanted to be, they became what God wanted them to be, And all because of King Jesus.
Let’s think about that signpost – That Cross what does this mean you? It brought an opportunity to share the Gospel message to everyone. Once more presenting them all will tracts and the Lord’s Prayer hands. “ Nice to see a little girl asking Pastor Niyi to read the prayer to her” Emphasis the importance of sowing seeds into lives.
