He Wanted A Burden For Souls
“Tom, you’re the sort of Christian I like.” The speaker was a young man of no religious profession. His companion was a church member in good and regular standing. “You’re the sort of a Christian I like. You never seem to bother yourself about a fellow’s soul.”
The words were lightly spoken, but they pierced like an arrow. If we had listened at Tom’s chamber door that night, we would have heard something like this: “O God, forgive me that I seemed indifferent to the welfare of my friends! Help me to trouble myself more and more about them. Give me a passion for souls!” Are you praying this more lately?
“Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.” (John 4:35 KJV)
Read MoreSpiritual Blindness
Helen Keller tells of the dramatic moment when Annie Sullivan first broke through her dark, silent world with the illumination of language.
“We walked down the path to the well house, attracted by the fragrance of the honeysuckle with which it was covered. Someone was drawing water and my teacher placed my hand under the spout. As the cool stream gushed over one hand she spelled into the other the word water, first slowly, then rapidly. I stood still, my whole attention fixed upon the motions of her fingers. Suddenly I felt a misty consciousness as of something forgotten — a thrill of returning thought; and somehow the mystery of language was revealed to me. I knew then that “w-a-t-e-r” meant the wonderful cool something that was flowing over my hand. That living word awakened my soul, gave it light, hope, joy, set it free! There were barriers still, it is true, but barriers that could in time be swept away.” -Helen Keller
Certainly, this was how the blind man must have felt when he saw water for the first time as he washed his eyes in the pool of Siloam. Just as the Light of the world gave sight to the blind beggar, and just as that “living word” awakened the soul of Helen Keller, so Jesus can awaken your life with the tender touch of His hand. He can give you light, hope, joy, and freedom like you’ve never known before. Surely there will still be barriers in your life, but barriers that can be swept away in time. Consider this:
“For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light: (Ephesians 5:8 KJV)
“That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world;” (Philippians 2:15 KJV)
“For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” (2 Corinthians 4:6 KJV)
Read MoreThe Miser Of Marseille
I remember hearing about “The Miser of Marseilles.” Many years ago, he was a figure on the streets of that town. He lived for nothing but money. He gripped, and he grabbed, and he kept. A miser, a money grub, and very wealthy he was known to be. He was the object of derision throughout the whole of Marseilles, and the South of France. When he appeared in the streets, the boys hooted at him. When he was mentioned among his business associates, they jeered at him, the old skinflint, the miserable old wretch, heaping up money, storing it up. Ah, he was contented thus to live, and thus to die; and his body was carried to the grave without a single attendant. There was not a soul in Marseilles but gave a kind of sneer, and a kind of curse, as he passed the body of the miser on the way to the grave.
Ah, yes, but when his will was read, what is this that brings mourning and lamentation to the whole city: It is this: “From my infancy, I noticed that the poor of Marseilles had great difficulty in getting water. I noticed that water, the gift of God, was very dear, and very difficult to obtain in this city, pure and sweet: and I vowed before God that I would live but for one purpose, for one end. I would save money, money, money; and now I give it to the city, on one condition, that an aqueduct be made from yonder lake on the hills to Marseilles.”
As they drink the sweet, luscious, fresh water of that city, I believe the poor say, “Ah, when he lived we misunderstood him, but he did it for us.” The bubbling fountain in Marseilles was the gift of the man who was misunderstood and jeered at.
Do you catch it? Jesus was there on the Cross, and the folks said:
“And they that passed by railed on him, wagging their heads, and saying, Ah, thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, Save thyself, and come down from the cross.” (Mark 15:29-30 KJV)
They all mocked Him, and jeered at Him. Yet, it is from this despised One, this Christ, that the souls, needy and thirsty and despairing, are drinking today the water of life.
Read MoreThe Infallible Bible – Barometer
In September 1938, a man who lived on Long Island was able one day to satisfy a lifelong ambition by purchasing for himself a very fine barometer. When the instrument arrived at his home, he was extremely disappointed to find that the indicating needle appeared to be stuck, pointing to the sector marked “Hurricane.”
After shaking the barometer very vigorously several times, its new owner sat down and wrote a scorching letter to the store from which he had purchased the instrument, and on the following morning, on his way to his office in New York, he mailed the letter. That evening he returned to Long Island, to find not only the barometer missing, but his house also. The barometer’s needle had been right. There was a hurricane!
What the Bible points out is always true. People may think there is something wrong with what the Bible says, and they may write scorching letters to the faithful preachers of God’s Word. Still, the indications and predictions of the Bible will come to pass. Many of those who are angered by the truth will one day discover their grievous error. The storm of God’s final Judgment will strike, and all that they have will be swept into eternal destruction!
“The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Moreover by them is thy servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward.” (Psalms 19:7-11 KJV)
Read MoreThe Chief and the Thief
“But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53:5-6 KJV)
It was centuries ago, when all of North America (what is now United States and Canada ) belonged to its Native people. One nomadic Indian tribe in the Great Plains was blessed with a chief that was beloved and respected by everyone who knew him. He was known as a man who deeply loved his people, and he showed it…and a man of absolute justice and fairness and he showed that. One day some braves brought a very troubling report to him; there had been several mysterious thefts from people in the tribe. The chief wanted to nip this kind of stealing in the bud so he announced a severe penalty for the thief. He would be tied to a post when the sun was high, his back laid bare, and he would be beaten with a whip twenty times.
Then the chief set a trap. He asked two of his trusted braves to leave some animal pelts in front of a teepee one night and to watch all night from another tepee. It was the middle of the night when one of those braves awakened the chief with the news, “We’ve caught the thief.” “Then bring him in,” the chief ordered sternly.
You could see the reluctance and even the pain on the braves’ faces as they brought the thief into the chief’s tent that night. The chief was stunned to see who they had caught. It was his own mother. The next day, when the sun was high, everyone in the tribe gathered around the pole in the center of the village. There was heated discussion about what the chief would do. Would he sacrifice his love for his mother for the sake of justice and fairness? Or would he sacrifice his justice for his love? Now it was time. Very sadly, two braves marched the chief’s mother to the whipping post and they tied her there as two women bared her back for the whip. “The chief is putting his justice above his love,” the people whispered as the warrior with the whip raised his right arm to administer the first lash.
Suddenly, the chief emerged from his tepee and he shouted, “Stop! Let her go!”
As the people turned to look at their chief walking toward the whipping post, they began to say, “His love is greater than his justice. He’s letting her go unpunished for what she did.”
The chief untied the thief he loved, and then to the shock of everyone, as he removed his buckskin shirt, he said, “Tie me.” Hesitantly, the braves tied their chief to the post. Then he barked out his final command, “Begin the whipping.” There, before all his people, their honored chief took the full and painful punishment for the crimes of the one he loved.
As in our Scripture and story today, He took my place, too. Oh, what love!
Read MoreMy Name is Gossip
“But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men’s matters.” (1Pe 4:15 KJV)
Many years ago the Moody Church News carried a humorous story about a woman in a small town who was known for being a gossip. One day on vacation she visited the offices of The Chicago Daily News. She was wearing a white dress and inadvertently leaned against a wall where a freshly printed copy of the front page was hanging. It was a hot, humid day, and some of the print came off on the back of her white dress. Later as she walked down the street to meet her husband, she noticed that people walking behind her were snickering. When she reached the place where her husband was waiting, she asked him if there was anything on her back that shouldn’t be there. As she turned around, he read the large black reversed letters: sweN yliaD (Daily News). Realizing the appropriateness of the words, he said, “No, dear, nothing’s on your back that doesn’t belong there.”
I am more deadly than the screaming shell of the cannon. I win without killing. I tear down homes, break hearts, and wreck lives. I travel on the wings of the wind. No innocence is strong enough to intimidate me, no purity pure enough to daunt me. I have no regard for truth, no respect for justice, no mercy for the defenseless. My victims are as numerous as the sands of the sea and often as innocent. I never forget and seldom forgive. My name is Gossip. ~Morgan Blake~
I have wished a million times I had not “passed on pertinent information” (gossip) that was told to me by a friend I trusted. Even if it had been true, I know now that I should have not passed on. I was not part of the problem or the solution… I should have kept my mouth shut! God forgave me, friends did, too, but the damaged caused has never been corrected.
Read MoreGrace to Pray
“But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.” (1 Corinthians 15:10 KJV)
When Joseph Parker, the great London preacher of the last century, was debating one day on the town green with enemies of Christianity, an infidel shouted to him, “What did Christ do for Stephen when he was stoned?”
Parker answered and he said the answer was given him like an inspiration from Heaven: “He gave him grace to pray for those who stoned him.”
It was the belief of St. Augustine and of Luther that the prayer which was offered by Stephen for those who stoned him, and which Paul must have heard when he held the clothes of those who did the stoning, was used of God for the conversion of the apostle.
Grace:
- a disposition to kindness and compassion; benign good will; “the victor’s grace in treating the vanquished”
- (Christian theology) the free and unmerited favor or beneficence of God; “God’s grace is manifested in the salvation of sinners”; “there but for the grace of God go I”
- a sense of propriety and consideration for others
Grace, in itself, is hard for us to understand, but the more we use of it, the more He gives… it seems an endless supply… I choose to prove that! Consider this:
He Giveth More Grace
He giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater;
He sendeth more strength when the labors increase.
To added affliction He addeth His mercy;
To multiplied trials, His multiplied peace.
When we have exhausted our store of endurance,
When our strength has failed ere the day is half done,
When we reach the end of our hoarded resources,
Our Father’s full giving is only begun.
His love has no limit;
His grace has no measure.
His power has no boundary known unto men.
For out of His infinite riches in Jesus, He giveth and giveth and giveth again.
~Annie Johnson Flint, 1866-1932~
Read MoreBad Turned Good
“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28 KJV)
Evangelist Dan Ewald was called to preach at a camp at a time when he had a cold and sinus problem, and his stuffy nose was making it difficult to breathe. So he came up with a simple solution: he smeared Vicks salve onto a white hanky, folded it, and tucked in his pocket, so that if he needed some relief, he could slip the hanky out and take a good whiff of the Vicks. In his other pocket, he placed a clean handkerchief.
Those of you who’ve heard him preach know well that he perspires heavily when he’s really wound up, and wipes his brow frequently with a hanky. Well…his brow became really sweaty this one evening, and, naturally he reached for his hanky. You’ve guessed it; he grabbed the wrong one, and when he began to perspire again, the Vicks on his forehead was soon running into his eyes. His eyes began to water, and he dashed the tears away, but they continued to water. He continued to preach, though, and evidently the people thought he was weeping from the emotion of the sermon. Folks began to shout and run the aisles, while he continued to preach…and cry from the burning in his eyes. Many began to come forward to pray until the altar was lined and many victories won that night.
God will, according to His word, cause all things work for good to those who love Him. Just goes to show you that God can use whatever is handy to speak to His people.
Read MoreHe Gave It To Me
“For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 6:23 KJV)
Legendary Spanish artist Pablo Picasso was virtually unknown when he painted his famous portrait of American writer Gertrude Stein in 1906. Picasso gave the portrait to Miss Stein since, as the artist himself recalled with a smile, at that time in his career “the difference between a gift and a sale was negligible.” Some years later, the portrait attracted the interest of millionaire art collector Dr. Albert Barnes, who asked Miss Stein how much she had paid Picasso for it. “Nothing,” she replied. “Naturally, he gave it to me.”
Dr. Barnes was incredulous that such a priceless work of art could have been a gift.
If you’ve ever thought about the gospel for very long, you can probably appreciate Dr. Barnes’s incredulity. Think of what we have been given in Christ: forgiveness, eternal life, and all the riches of heaven…all at a cost we could have never paid! But that’s not all; we have the privilege of sharing this treasure with others! And so share I…
Read MoreResurrection Morning
“But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.” (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 KJV)
Clarence had been killed in a subway train accident. At the beginning of the funeral service the pastor brilliantly expounded upon what the Bible says about the promise of the resurrection and the joys of being with Christ. Then he came down from the platform and went over to the right side of the sanctuary, where the family was seated in the first three rows. There, he spoke special words of comfort for them.
Then the pastor did a most unusual thing. He went over to the open casket and spoke as though to the corpse. He said, “Clarence! Clarence! There were a lot of things we should have said to you when you were alive that we never got around to saying to you. And I want to say them now.”
What followed was a beautiful litany of memories of things that Clarence had done for many people present and for the church. The list recalled how lovingly Clarence had served others without thought of reward. When he had finished, the pastor looked at Clarence’s body and said, “Well, Clarence, that’s it. I’ve got nothing else to say except this: Good night, Clarence. Good Night!” And with that he slammed down the lid of the casket as a stunned silence fell over the congregation.
Then a beautiful smile slowly lit up the pastor’s face and he shouted, “And I know that God is going to give Clarence a good morning!”
With that the choir rose to its feet and started singing, “On that great gettin’ up morning we shall rise, we shall rise!” As the choir sang, everyone in the congregation rose to their feet and started singing it with them. “On that great gettin’ up morning we shall rise, we shall rise!” There was clapping and crying, but the tears were tears of laughter. “Celebration had broken out in the face of death. Something of a party that is to come had broken into that church…Death had been swallowed up in victory.”
Oh, what a gathering that will be – I hope to see you all there!
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