Posts Tagged "church"
The Lamb Is Worthy
As an Old Testament believer, if you wanted to be touched by God, you would bring a lamb to the Temple. There, the priests would carefully inspect and scrutinize it for any spot or blemish. It was not the worshiper who was judged. It was the lamb. Herein lays a fabulous truth. You see, I can be guided by the Father tonight; I can be led by the Father tomorrow. I can expect to receive abundant life. I can look forward to His blessing upon me and upon my family. I can trust He will anoint my head with oil, that He will take care of the predators who are coming out to get me, that He will lead me through the valley of darkness.
I can expect a table set before me: I can expect to truly fellowship with God — not because of my spotlessness, but because the Lamb has been inspected and found perfect. Worthy is the Lamb. I can receive blessing tonight not because I’ve come to church, not because I’ve read fifteen chapters in my Bible, not because I didn’t watch television. I enjoy the blessing of God upon my life solely because of the Lamb. “I lay down My life,” Jesus said. He didn’t say, you better lay down your life if you expect to be blessed.
While it is true that He would call us in discipleship to take up our cross daily and follow Him, my entry into the presence of the Father is not based upon who I am, what I do, or what I failed to do. It is based upon who He is, what He did on the Cross, and in the tomb. The Shepherd became a Lamb that we dumb sheep might know the Shepherd. Worthy indeed is the Lamb! He made it all possible!
“Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.“ (John 10:17-18 KJV)
Read MoreHe 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 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!
Read MoreThe Hands of Christ
“Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.” (1 Corinthians 12:27 KJV)
During World War II, a church building in Strasbourg was destroyed. After the bombing, the members surveyed the area to see what damage was done. They were pleased that a statue of Christ with outstretched hands was still standing. It had been sculpted centuries before by a great artist.
Taking a closer look, the people discovered both hands of Christ had been sheered off by a falling beam. Later, a sculptor in the town offered to replace the broken hands as a gift to the church. The church leaders met to consider the offer and decided not to accept it. They felt the statue without hands would be a great illustration that God’s work is done through his people.
Truly, in the church, we are the “hands of Christ”. If Christ is to minister to the poor, it must be through our hands. If he is to take care of the sick, it must be through our hands. If he is to reach out to those who are lonely, it must be through our hands.
See something around you that Christ needs to take care of today? He has no hands — but yours!
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