"But I say, surely they have never heard, have they? Indeed they have; 'THEIR VOICE HAS GONE OUT INTO ALL THE EARTH, AND THEIR WORDS TO THE ENDS OF THE WORLD.'"Many people get lost today, especially as the world gets smaller and increasingly congested. A few years ago I was told the San Mateo County (California) Convention & Visitors Bureau ordered 50,000 maps of the greater San Mateo area for visiting tourists. The driver of the delivery truck evidently got lost on the way to the bureau; he had to phone in for directions.Romans 10:18
The world has had people like this for at least two millennia … the map is right on their coffee table, but they’re still lost and need someone to give them directions.
Showing posts with label Gospel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gospel. Show all posts
Thursday, January 17, 2008
EVANGELISM: What do you expect from a male driver?
Sunday, August 07, 2005
LIGHT - Let the be no darkness at all!
BETTER TO BE BLIND! [John 8:12; Illumination, Jesus, Life] (Added 3 June 2006)CONSUMED BY HIS POWER! [2 Corinthians 4:4; gospel, power (God's)]Imagine no red rose, no blue sky, rolling but grey hills, and a several shades of grey Monarch Butterfly. Without light, there is no color. Color is just bands of light reflected off an object; which bands are reflected depends on the nature of the object. Without light, things would be very plain … AND VERY DARK.
So too without Christ … imagine no hope, no love, no future, and no present purpose for living.
Jesus said, "I am the light of the world; he who follows Me shall not walk in the darkness, but shall have the light of life."
Without the light of Christ, there would be no spiritual blessings, no sustaining grace, and no “daily bread” worth eating. Just as it is impossible to receive mail without a delivery address, it is impossible to receive a true blessing outside the person and authority of Christ but it is the individuals nature that brings His ultimate blessing.
COME INTO THE LIGHT! [1 Peter 1:19; Revelation, Sin, Truth]One of our church janitors was in my office the other day and told me a fascinating but sad story.
A hardworking man finally had time to go to a night baseball game with his family. They were doing the usual things: eating hot-dogs and peanuts, drinking cokes, and complaining about the prices.
His wife, a registered nurse and mother of his three kids, said something and he turned in such a way that the park lights were directly in his eyes. She gasped and took his face in her hands to have a closer look. Her suspicion was correct, his eyes were jaundiced, a sign of several serious diseases. Within a few weeks her childhood sweetheart and the father of her three children was dead.
Man must come into the light of God to see the ravaging affects of his sins. He is little more than the walking dead without the cleansing power of the blood of the Lamb. The Light reveals the truth for all to see. Many will come into the light too late. [1 Corinthians 4:5]LAVA LAMP BELIEVERS! [1 John 1:6,7; apostasy, believers, nominalism, testimony, witness]My associate pastor, Dan, used to work for Orkin (the pesty people); he was pulpit supply for me this morning and I was blessed to hear an illustration he used on the whole armor of God [Epesian 6:10-17].
Orkin evidently had special Maglites with custom commercial grade batteries in them ... make that battery. Instead of four D-cells it had a single, long battery. I gather They're like those used by law enforcement. At any rate he said it was a blessing when he was crawling around in attics and under houses; it would light up the area from one end to the other.
He used this tool to illustrate the power of the Light of God, Jesus our Lord. When an ordinary flashlight was shined directly into the beam of light coming from his Maglite the beam from the common flashlight was consumed by the power of the more powerful light.
So too the power of Satan, when it is exposed to the Light of God.Lava Lamps have made a comeback in recent years (2002). Many of today’s versions are more creative than when they were first introduced some forty years ago.
All lava lamps have one thing in common, none of them are adequate as a source of light. They're called a lamp, but they're not a lamp.
The age of their introduction was an age of darkness and half-light. People in that day didn’t want a lot of light. You might say they wanted just enough of the real thing so they could call the facsimile by name of the real thing.
Unfortunately, many Christians aren’t much better than lava lamps; they don’t really want the whole Light of God, just enough so they can go by the name of the Genuine Light yet remain in the shadows.
TURNING TOWARD THE LIGHT! [Ephesians 5:7-10; other topics - Holiness, Righteousness] (Added 3 June 2006)Our adopted daughter, Naomi, was admiring one of her mom’s houseplants. Her older sister, Jennifer, asked her if she noticed how the plant leaned toward the light coming through the front window. She said, “Yeah!” He sister then told her, “If you turn the plant around halfway, the plant will lean back toward the light inside of a week.” Naomi said, “Wow!”Likewise genuine Christians; separate them from the Light, or turn them away from the Light, and inside a short period of time they will have leaned back toward Him.
Sunday, May 01, 2005
FAITH - Living or simple!
BEWARE TWO OF A KIND! [Matthew 7:14-27; Believers, Nonbelievers]
Driving down the street one night I saw a peculiar optical illusion: two identical cats were sitting on the sill in a lighted front window. At first, I thought they were statues; they were both coal black (the absence of light compromises color at night) and indistinguishable in size and shape … except they were facing each other.
Then the cat on the left turned to look at my truck as it drove past. That slight motion quickly told me the cat on the left was sitting on the outside sill while the other cat was sitting on the inside sill. Until there was movement by one or the other, I was incapable of distinguishing between the two; the glass separated the one from the other; preventing them from doing whatever cats desire to do together at night.
The crux of this tale is that in it we see the importance of a Christian’s public witness. Until there is movement by one or the other, believers are virtually indistinguishable from nonbelievers. The Bible clearly teaches that believers are known by their actions and not their words [James 1 & 2].
Some might say both must move in order to know one from the other. However, by default, we know both could be nonbelievers … for we are all sinners and have fallen far from the grace of God [Romans 3:23]. Only when one of God’s fallen accepts Jesus as Lord, does he become a new creation; then and only then, do we see his actions as those of a believer. The second party must be supposed a nonbeliever until some action on his part provides evidence of his faith in the God of our fathers.
At one of his crusades Billy Graham said, “I assume everyone is lost until they confirm to me otherwise.” (my paraphrase) We should never believe anyone is a believer solely on the basis or his or her personal assurance.
“Whatever [a believer does] in word or deed, [he should do] all in the name of the Lord Jesus” [Colossians 3:17]; thus, his words and deeds are recognizable as a believer’s words and deeds.
Jesus clarified the importance of words over deeds in Matthew 7:14-27 when He specifically said, "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven.” He added, "You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes, nor figs from thistles, are they?”
Care must certainly be taken not to prejudge everything sitting in a window as a statue, but greater care must be taken before we judge everything sitting in a pew a believer. Like the glass in the window, Jesus Christ separates believers from nonbelievers … a believer’s actions will distinguish him from his counterpart.
GOD WILL DO JUST FINE WITHOUT YOU! [Sovereignty]
One night when a diplomat and his valet were required to sleep in the same railcar, the valet noticed his boss having trouble sleeping. “Whazzzzup?” He asked (things have changed). “Oh, I have so many things on my mind; the responsibilities I have to bear.”“Look, I want to get some sleep, so let me ask you: do you think God was governing the world okay before you were born and don’t you think He'll manage after you're dead and gone?” “Absolutely!” “Okay then, let’s get some sleep, cause He’s gonna do just fine while your alive … right?"
[Adapted from e-Sword Ministries - 2000+ Illustrations, "Faith"]
I SEE YOU! [Matthew 8:5-13]; other topics - omniscience, sight, trust]
A dad stood in the cellar looking up at his son standing at the edge of a trap door. He called up, “I’m right here son, go ahead jump down to me."
The boy hesitated, in uncertain fear. "I can't, dad; I can't see you." Up came the answer, "I know you can't, but I see you!”
We may not see our Father but He sees us!
SINKING IN A SEA OF SIN! [1 Timothy 2:5; Deliverance, Grace, Salvation]
The movie Titanic was a big hit in the last decade. One can almost see and hear the people struggle in the deadly waters of the frigid Atlantic.Faith links man, who is sinking in a sea of sin, to God, who is our Anchor and our Hope. God uses this link to provide man a way of salvation (Grace); once the link is established, a relationship exists.The drowning man doesn’t reject a rescue ship’s lifeline in order to grab a pallet which happens to float by ... why? Because the pallet offers only temporary deliverance, whereas the line connects the man to the ship offering deliverance from the jaws of certain death!
God offers the lifeline of faith (in His Son); promising to credit His Son’s righteous to us if we will but trust Him. Abraham did and was reckoned righteous in just this way.
Though faith seems a thin thread to many, in reality it’s an unbreakable cable held by the hands of Almighty God, whose infinite power slowly and surely draws all men to His heavenly shore. [a loose paraphrase of Spurgeon]There must, of necessity, be a relationship between the drowning man and the rescue ship … the lifeline … or there is no hope of deliverance. Notice, however, it can’t just be a drowning man, a ship, and a lifeline; someone must be on board to pull the man from the water.
Gilbert was eight years old and a Cub Scouts for only a short time. Handed a sheet of paper, a block of wood, and four black plastic tires, he return home and gave it to “dad”.Not an easy task, dad wasn’t real receptive to doing things with his son. But Gilbert tried. Dad read the paper and chuckled at the idea of making a pine wood car with his son. Gilbert’s “stuff” remained untouched for weeks.Then mom stepped in and the project got underway. Mom had no carpentry skills so she simply read the directions and let Gilbert do the work. He did! Within days the block of wood was becoming a pinewood car; a little lopsided, but looking fine.Gilbert was feeling quite proud of his “Blue Lightning”; a pride that came from doing something himself. Then came the big night. With his hand full of blue pinewood car hand and his heart filled with pride, he and mom headed to the big race.Once there, mom saw her son’s was most likely the only car made entirely by a child. All the other cars had cool paint jobs and sleek body styles, perfect for speed. Some children giggled when they saw Gilbert’s wobbly, homely vehicle.Adding insult to injury, Gilbert was the only boy without a man at his side. A couple of boys from single parent homes at least had an uncle or grandfather by their side.The race was by elimination. You kept racing as long as you didn’t lose. As you might guess, in the end it was between Gilbert and the sleekest, fastest looking car. As the final race was about to start, mom’s proud but shy eight year-old asked if they could hold the race for him to pray. They smiled at the request but held up the race. Gilbert kneeled in front of all, clutching his funny looking block of wood, and prayed. He prayed for a minute and then stood, smile and said, ‘Okay, I’m ready.”The crowd cheered. The sleek car roared down the ramp while Gilbert’s wobbled but with surprising speed, reaching the finish line a fraction of a second ahead of the other car. Gilbert leaped in the air and shouted, “Thank you.”In the “Winner’s Circle,” the Scout Master said, “So you prayed to win, huh, Gilbert?” The small lad answered loudly, “Oh, no sir! That wouldn’t be fair! I just asked God to make it so I don’t cry when I lose.”Wasn’t it Jesus who said, “Permit the children to come to Me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it at all”? [Luke 18:16-17] And wasn’t it Solomon who asked God for wisdom to rule His people when he could have asked for riches or power? [1 Kings 3:5-15] And wasn’t it James who said, “You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures”? [James 4:3]Perhaps we have something to learn from our children; maybe even how to be better fathers and role models ... at a minimum, better prayer warriors?
TWO SIDES OF THE SAME COIN [James 2:17; Other topics - Good News, Gospel]
An old preacher was fond of saying, “There are two parts to the Good News; the first is believing and the second is behaving.” The one who hears but does not do is the one James describes as having dead faith.
WITHOUT EXCUSE! [Romans 1:19-25; Common sense; Experience]
During WWII an American bomber, night flying over North Africa, was chased by an unusually strong tailwind. They weren’t buffeted or threatened, they were simply blown along much faster than they realized.
Unfortunately, the crew calculated distance traveled using fuel consumption and time in the air, ignoring their experience and common sense. This resulted in irrevocably overshooting a course change, which caused them to miss their landing site.
Eventually, they exhausted their fuel and crashed; years later the wreckage was discovered in the Sahara Desert. The crew died because they refused to trust what they had all been trained to trust … their professional discipline founded on experience and common sense.
We too are blown along by a blast, the tailwind of scientific and secular reasoning. Man calculates his position in this world by the things of this world [1 John 2:15,16], ignoring history and his own God-given common sense. This decision can result in an irrevocable journey. However, unlike the crew of the bomber we are terribly buffeted and threatened!
The Bible says, all men must make a course change in their lives [John 3:3] it also says “that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them” [Romans 1:19] and continues:For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God, or give thanks; but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, that their bodies might be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.We must trust what God has given us, living by faith [Habakkuk 2:4] and not by sight!
Friday, January 28, 2005
Gospel (False)
Oh, no! Not Again! [Matthew 7:22; False Spirits, Apologetics]
Computer users are being plagued with phony virus warnings and with patently false rumors concerning anti-Judeo/Christian activities. E-mail has made the proliferation of hoaxes much easier than in the past. Now there are some authentic viruses we need to know about; there are some genuine anti-Christian efforts at work in the world also.
Just as the printing press was used by God to proliferate the Good News in hard copy , the computer is making every kind of fraud easy to commit ... even so called harmless deceptions. The problem is to tell the genuine article from the fake. Many agencies of the federal government, departments of large corporations, and individuals and groups on the World Wide Web are tracking this chicanery.
In the same way, since the first century, false gospels have plagued the Church. Many wonderful evangelical, Christian organizations exist today to help the believer and the searcher discover what is real and what is false. But the first and best source of information on the true gospel was and is the Word of God.
Sunday, January 02, 2005
REGENERATION: Behold, new life!
Dead-ringer On The Graveyard Shift! [Jeremiah 24:2-10]
Have you ever wonder where certain sayings come from? I do? I’m told that in 16th century England, people drank ale or whiskey from lead cups; evidently the combination could knock a hardy drinker out for a couple of days. [Ed. Note: I don't think it was the combination that did it!]
At any rate, someone walking along the road might mistake an unconscious drunk for dead and so prepare him for burial. He’s be laid on the kitchen table for a few days so the family could gather around, eat and drink, and wait to see if you'd wake up. Hence the custom of holding a "wake". [Why it was not called a "wait," I don’t know!] Regardless, people soon became aware not all who appeared dead, were actually dead.
I’m also told England, being small, was running out of places to bury people in "sanctified cemeteries." Hence, old graves were dug up and the remains stored in order to re-used grave plots. Evidently, in reopening the coffins, they discovered scratch marks inside some. It didn't take long to figure out many people were buried alive.
Consequently the practice of tying string to the wrist of the deceased, leading it up through the ground to tie to a bell. A volunteer would sit in the graveyard all night to listen for the bell; thus the sayings "graveyard shift" and "saved by the bell" and "dead ringers," [Adapted from Life in the 1500's, author unknown]
Folks, we’re late of the grave, very dead yet very alive in death – the walking dead! So we too are "dead ringers," of a sort. Praise Jesus, He patiently waits out his graveyard shift by our upright graves, listening for the peal of our bell when it rings, "Save me! Save me! Save me! "
The gospel is about life not death; yet not all who hear it will pull on the string, their Savior. Many will be found on the side of the road to perdition and be counted among the dead while a chance remains for them to ring out!
All They Will Ever Have! [Matthew 29]
"As scientists look back at all the discoveries made in the 1990's, the so-called Decade of the Brain, one finding stands out as the most startling and, for many scientists, the most difficult to accept: people are not necessarily born with all the brain cells they will ever have."
These words are a quote from Sandra Blakeslee, from a 1/4/00 preview article of a The New York Times piece entitled "Discovery Yields Shock About the Brain." [Copyright 2000 The New York Times Company]
Well, shut my mouth! Neither are they born with all of many things they will ever have. Take sin, for example.
And we have no idea the precise change that takes place when a sinner is born again. If scientists have difficulty accepting an unexplained increase in brain cells, no wonder so few of them seem to be believers.
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