Illustrations - The Gospel

Wiping a tear from her cheek, the grandmother reached out to him and said, "Come here, son." She put her arms around him. "I was sitting upstairs by an open window, and I saw you kill the duck."

Then she said, "I wondered how long you were going to take this bondage to Mary. I've watched her give you orders for two weeks, and I wondered when you would come to me."

Our heavenly Father has seen everything that we have done. He is waiting on us to come and confess our sin, to acknowledge it and say, "God, here I am. Forgive me. I want to be free. I want a fresh start."

We all want freedom: political freedom, intellectual freedom, and moral freedom. We want freedom from prejudice, freedom from ignorance, freedom from poverty. And even religious freedom.

Our world is concerned about freedom, but very few people ask, "What really is freedom?"

Freedom is not the absence of restraint that could lead to anarchy. Freedom is not the absence of laws that could lead to chaos. Freedom is not doing whatever you please that would result in abuse. Freedom is the privilege and power to become all that God wants you to become. Freedom is the opportunity to fulfill your potential to the glory of God.

God's method for freedom is truth. Truth has been given to us in three different ways.
A. Jesus is the truth.
Jesus said, "I am the way and the truth and the life" (John 14:6 NIV). That is why he claimed in John 8:36, "If the Son sets your free, you will be free indeed" (John 8:36 NIV). This ties in with verse 32, "Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free" (John 8:32 NIV). When you know Jesus Christ, you know God's living truth, and that truth sets you free.

B. The Word of God is truth.
When Jesus prayed to the Father, he said, "Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth" (John 17:17 NIV). "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free" (John 8:31-32 NIV). The Word of God exposes the lies of the devil. When we know Jesus we have truth. When we study his word we have truth.

C. The Spirit of God is the truth.
"It is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth" (1 John 5:7 NIV). "Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom" (2 Cor. 3:17 NIV). When the Spirit of God reveals the Son of God in the Word of God, we experience the freedom of God. God's method for freedom is truth.
 
Warning:
Satan is at work with his lies, and Satan wants us to believe his lies. When we believe the Devil's lies and obey them, then we experience bondage. God's purpose for man is freedom and God's method for freedom is truth.

God's revelation of truth is Jesus Christ.
Because of Jesus we have real freedom: "If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed" (John 8:36 NIV). Because of Jesus we are free from the penalty of sin. While Jesus was free from sin, we aren't. We break his laws, we fail him, we fall short of his requirements. We may claim that our sins are no big deal. We may attempt to cover up our sins, but God says we can't get away with hiding our sins.

Jesus comes along, the man who knew freedom from sin and took the penalty for our sin. That is what the cross is all about. On the cross Jesus took the punishment that sinners deserved and freed us from the consequences of sin. Because Jesus accepted the sentence of death that we deserved, in Christ we are free from the penalty of sin.

Because of Jesus we are free from the power of sin. Jesus said, "Everyone who sins is a slave to sin" (John 8:34 NIV). While we are free from the consequences of sin when we die, we often live under the power of sin while on this earth. Sin creates horrible bondage. We try not to lie, but we do. We try not to be jealous, but we are. We try not to yield to temptation, but we do time and time again. We are slaves.

           

 In January 2000, leaders in Charlotte, North Carolina, invited their favourite son, Billy Graham, to a luncheon in his honour.  Billy initially hesitated to accept the invitation because he struggles with Parkinson's disease.  But the Charlotte leaders said, "We don't expect a major address.  Just come and let us honour you."  So he agreed...  
After wonderful things were said about him, Dr. Graham stepped to the rostrum, looked at the crowd, and said, "I'm reminded today of Albert Einstein, the great physicist who this month has been honoured by Time magazine as the Man of the Century...  Einstein was once travelling from Princeton on a train when the conductor came down the aisle, punching the tickets of every passenger.  When he came to Einstein, Einstein reached in his vest pocket.  He couldn't find his ticket, so he reached in his trouser pockets.

It wasn't there, so he looked in his briefcase but couldn't find it, he looked in the seat beside him.  He still couldn't find it. The conductor said, "Dr. Einstein, I know who you are...  We all know who you are.  I'm sure you bought a ticket.  Don't worry about it."

Einstein nodded appreciatively.  The conductor continued down the aisle punching tickets.  As he was ready to move to the next car, he turned around and saw the great physicist down on his hands and knees looking under his seat for his ticket. The conductor rushed back and said, "Dr. Einstein, Dr. Einstein, don't worry, I know who you are, No problem...  You don't need a ticket...  I'm sure you bought one..."

Einstein looked at him and said, "Young man, I too, know who I am.  What I don't know is where I'm going.''

Having said that Billy Graham continued, "See the suit I'm wearing?  It's a brand new suit. My children and my grandchildren are telling me I've gotten a little slovenly in my old age. I used to be a bit more fastidious.  So I went out and bought a new suit for this luncheon and one more occasion.  You know what that occasion is?  This is the suit in which I'll be buried. But when you hear I'm dead, I don't want you to remember the suit I'm wearing.

I want you to remember this:  I not only know who I am...  I also know where I'm going."   

When the founder of the Salvation Army, General William Booth was preaching the Gospel in the open air one time, he suddenly stopped preaching and stabbed a finger at a young man busily writing, and called out, "Young man, are you saved?"
To which the astonished individual replied, "Me, sir? I'm a reporter."

Many of us would have replied the same. If we were suddenly challenged, we would say:
"Me? I"m an Australian."
or "Me? I come from Sydney."
or "Me I'm Church of England."
The fact is, that when we hear of someone who needs the Gospel of Salvation, we think it applies to someone else. Too many of us when we are faced with the issue of eternal life and freedom from our sin, protest, like the rich young Ruler who knew the commandments: Matt 19:18-20 "Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honour your father and mother,' and 'love your neighbour as yourself.' " "All these I have kept," the young man said. "What do I still lack?".
It was as if he replied: "Me sir? I've haven't done anything of which I am ashamed"
Once, a man told me he was a Christian because he had an aunt in Bendigo who was a Baptist!
Salvation is seen to be needed by others, not us.
Yet as Norman Goodacre wrote: "Mankind needs, above all else, salvation. He needs to turn round and see that God is standing there with a rope ready to throw to him if only he will catch it and attach it to himself."
The men who wrote the Nicean Creed were in no doubt: "We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God,... For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven."
Jesus came to save us from our sins. How do we know we are saved? We could ask:

"HOW DO I KNOW I AM SAVED?" By Rev Dr Gordon Moyes
See full sermon at “SERMONS”

Sin within the hearts of people

At dinner I was sitting next to a Professor of Surgery from Sydney University. He had just returned from the island of Tierra del Fuego at the southern tip of South America where he had been continuing his studies into the life of the famous biologist, Charles Darwin. I reminded him that even Charles Darwin, the man who propounded the theory of evolution, admitted the presence of sin within the hearts of people, particularly the natives of Tierra del Feugo whom he described as the most savage people he had ever seen. Darwin wrote that he found among the people the most horrifying savagery and bestiality beyond description. But when he returned there after a missionary arrived to work among the people, he was amazed at the change in them. He acknowledged that the gospel does transform lives. He was so moved by what he saw that he contributed money to the mission until his death. He also wrote to a new minister in his home village: "Your services have done more for our village in a few months than all our efforts for many years. We have never been able to reclaim a single drunkard, but through your services I do not know that there is a drunkard left in the village!"

"HOW DO I KNOW I AM SAVED?" By Gordon Moyes
See full sermon at “SERMONS”

Dr. Gordon one Easter brought an old beat-up rusty birdcage and sat it next to the pulpit. As he gave his sermon that Easter morning he held up the cage and said, "You might be wondering why this is here. As a matter of fact, that's not the normal part of a service, have a bird cage here."
He said, "Let me tell you the story of it. Several days ago I was noticing a little boy in tattered and torn blue jeans and a dirty T-shirt cap off to the side, whistling, walking down an alley, swinging this birdcage. Clinging to the bottom of the cage were little field sparrows he had caught. So I stopped him and asked, 'Say, sonny, what do you have there?' He said, 'Oh, I've got some birds.' 'What are you gonna do with 'em?' I asked. 'Oh, mess around with them, tease 'em, something like that.' 'Well,' I asked, 'when you get tired of 'em, what are you gonna do?' He thought a moment and said, 'Well, I got a couple of cats at home and they like birds. I think I'll just let them have at 'em.'"
Dr. Gordon said his heart went out to the little birds so he made the little lad an offer. "How much do you want for the birds?" Surprised, the boy, said, "mister, these birds ain't no good." "Well," Dr. Gordon said, "regardless, how much would you like for 'em?" The little fellow said, "How about two bucks?" He said, "Sold." So he reached in his pocket and peeled off two-dollar bills. The little boy shoved the birdcage forward pleased with his stroke of good fortune.
When the boy left, the minister walked a good distance away, lifted open the little cage door and said, "Shoo, shoo." And he shoved them out of the door and they flew free.
The empty birdcage was a perfect illustration of how Satan had the human race trapped and frightened. Jesus Christ not only paid the price for our freedom; He has set us free.

The Tale Of The Tardy Oxcart
Charles R. Swindoll, Word, p. 171.

JESUS- ACCEPTING HIM

The very wealthy English Baron Fitzgerald had only one child, a son, who understandably was the apple of his eye, the center of his affections, an only child, the focus of this little family's attention.
The son grew up, but in his early teens his mother died, leaving him and his father. Fitzgerald grieved over the loss of his wife but devoted himself to fathering their son. In the passing of time, the son became very ill and died in his late teens. In the meantime, the Fitzgerald financial holdings greatly increased. The father had used much of his wealth to acquire art works of the "masters."
And with the passing of more time, Fitzgerald himself became ill and died. Previous to his death he had carefully prepared his will with explicit instructions as to how his estate would be settled. He had directed that there would be an auction in which his entire collection of art would be sold. Because of the quantity and quality of the art works in his collection which was valued in the millions of English pounds, a huge crowd of prospective buyers gathered, expectantly. Among them were many museum curators and private collectors eager to bid.
The art works were displayed for viewing before the auction began. Among them was one painting which received little attention. It was of poor quality and done by an unknown local artist. It happened to be a portrait of Fitzgerald's only son.
When the time came for the auction to begin, the auctioneer gaveled the crowd to attention and before the bidding began, the attorney read first from the will of Fitzgerald which instructed that the first painting to be auctioned was the painting of "my beloved son."
The poor quality painting didn't receive any bidders…except one! The only bidder was the old servant who had known the son and loved him and served him and for sentimental reasons offered the only bid. For less than an English pound he bought the painting.
The auctioneer stopped the bidding and asked the attorney to read again from the will. The crowd was hushed, it was quite unusual, and the attorney read from the Fitzgerald will: "Whoever buys the painting of my son gets all my art collection. The auction is over!"
In today's world, everyone wants the Father's blessings. They want God to heal them of their physical aliments, provide them with nice things, give them good jobs, and guarantee them salvation. They want all of God's blessings, but they are not interested in God's son. They have no use for Jesus. But unless people accept and embrace the son, there are no blessings from God. All of God's inheritance and blessings are given to only those who love and bid for His son!

More Stories From The Heart
Alice Gray, Multnomah, pp. 126-127.

Forgiveness that the Gospel makes possible

One of the world's greatest actresses is Susan Sarandon. In 1995 she won the Oscar for Best Actress in the film Dead Man Walking. It is the gripping portrayal of an American nun Sister Helen Prejean who ministers to the men on death row.
But that powerful film only tells half the story and left out the best part! Dead Man Walking is about the inherent dignity of even a hardened criminal. Like many films and newspapers it concentrates on the criminal, not the victim.

But the story of the victim is even greater, depicting the uniquely Christian message of forgiveness.
The true story is how sixteen-year-old Debbie Morris was on a date with her boyfriend, Mark.
One Friday evening while having milkshakes two strangers put a revolver to Mark's head. Their night out turned into several hours of torture, rape, and attempted murder. They shot Mark leaving him for dead. Debbie was repeatedly raped and deeply wounded. When the two men were captured, one, Robert Willie was sentenced to die for his crimes.
He eventually admitted to several murders, including butchering another girl. But Debbie's anguish did not end when Willie was sentenced to die. Despite those who urged her to "get on with her life," her emotional ordeal continued.
Debbie could not find true healing until she was able to comprehend and forgive those two men.

As Debbie writes in her book, "Forgiving the Dead Man Walking", "Justice doesn't really heal all the wounds." It was only when Debbie found the grace to forgive Robert Willie, the day he was executed, that she finally knew release from suffering herself.

She found forgiveness from Christ for herself and those who had injured her.
In prayer - for herself and for Willie - she discovered that only God's grace is sufficient to bind up the wounds of the human heart.
Forgiveness is much more than telling ourselves that an offense just doesn't matter anymore. On the contrary, forgiveness recognizes the debt for what it is. And it doesn't just liberate the debtor from his debt - it transforms the heart of the one who forgives.
In fact, forgiveness is an imitation of God's own act of forgiveness on the Cross.
By forsaking the justice we are owed, we recognize that we, too, have been forgiven a debt we can never repay. That is why true forgiveness is a scandal to the secular mind.
Secular society has nothing that resembles the forgiveness that the Gospel makes possible, what Debbie Morris experienced.
That is part of the meaning of this Easter.

“Liberating the World” - By Gordon Moyes
See full sermon at SERMONS.

What enables Christians to forgive

The film, "Dead Man Walking" is the true story of men's brutality and viciousness. But the young teenager so injured in real life, learnt to forgive the men who raped her and shot her boyfriend. Debbie Morris displayed that same forgiveness we saw on Television one year ago this week when we witnessed the parents of the dead teenagers in the Columbine High School massacre forgiving the two young men who shot so many students to death.

What enables Christians to forgive like that? The answer lies in the liberation that Jesus Christ gives them through His forgiveness from the Cross, and the liberation that gives us through His death and resurrection. The Easter message is as relevant as to how each of us can be liberated from fear, guilt, doubt and death. These are the great realities of living, and the Easter events are as relevant to each of us burdened by fear, guilt, doubt and death. Because, in His resurrection Jesus has provided us with an answer to all those things that bind and imprison us.
“Liberating the World” - By Gordon Moyes
See full sermon at SERMONS.

LOVE OF JESUS

I hurried into the local department store to grab some last minute Christmas gifts. I looked at all the people and grumbled to myself, "I am going to be in here forever."
Christmas was beginning to become such a drag. I kinda wished that I could just sleep through Christmas. But I hurried the best I could, and finally made my way to the toy department. Once again I kind of mumbled to myself at the prices of all these toys, and wondered if the grandkids would even play with them.
I found myself in the doll aisle. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a little boy about 5 holding a lovely doll. He kept touching her hair and he held her so gently. I could not seem to help myself. I just kept looking over at the little boy and wondered who the doll was for. I watched him turn to his aunt and say, "Are you sure I don't have enough money?" She replied a bit impatiently, "You know that you don't have enough money for it." The aunt told the little boy not to go anywhere that she had to go get some other things and would be back in a few minutes. And then she left the aisle.
The boy continued to hold the doll. After a bit, I ask the boy who the doll was for. He said, "It's the doll my sister wanted so badly for Christmas. She just knew that Santa would bring it." I told him that maybe Santa was going to bring it. He said "No, Santa can't go where my sister is, I have to give the doll to my Momma to take to her. I asked him where his sister was. He looked at me with the saddest eyes and said "She has gone to be with Jesus. My Daddy says that Momma is going to have to go to be with her."
My heart nearly stopped beating. Then the boy looked at me again and said, "I told my Daddy to tell Momma not to go yet. I told him to tell her to wait till I got back from the store." Then he asked me if I wanted to see his picture. I told him I would love to. He pulled out some pictures he'd had taken at the front of the store. He said "I want my Momma to take this with her so she don't ever forget me. I love my Momma so very much and I wish she did not have to leave me. But Daddy says she needs to be with my sister."
I saw that the little boy had lowered his head and had grown so very quiet. While he was not looking I reached into my purse and pulled out a hand full of bills. I asked the little boy, "Shall we count that money one more time?" He grew excited and said, "Yes, I just know it has to be enough," so I slipped my money in with his and we began to count it. And of course it was plenty for the doll. He softly said, "Thank you Jesus for giving me enough money." Then the boy said, "I just asked Jesus to give me enough money to buy this doll so Momma can take it with her to give to my sister. And he heard my prayer. I wanted to ask him for enough to buy my Momma a white rose, but I didn't, but he gave me enough to buy the doll and a rose for my Momma. She loves white roses so very, very much." In a few minutes the aunt came back and I wheeled my cart away. I could not keep from thinking about the little boy as I finished my shopping in a totally different spirit than when I had started. And I kept remembering a story I had seen in the newspaper several days earlier. In the story, a family was deciding on whether to remove the life support. Now surely this little boy did not belong with that story. Two days later I read in the paper where the family had disconnected the life support and the young woman had died.
I could not forget the little boy and just kept wondering if the two were somehow connected. Later that day, I could not help myself. I went out and bought some white roses and took them to the funeral home where the young woman was. In the casket, the young mother was holding a lovely white rose, the beautiful doll, and the picture of the little boy in the store. I left there in tears, my life changed forever.
The love that little boy had for his little sister and his mother was overwhelming.

It is the same kind of love that Jesus has for you and me.
By V. A. Bailey.

JESUS OUR SUBSTITUTION

According to the Chicago Tribune, on June 22, 1997, parachute instructor Michael Costello, forty-two, of Mt. Dora, Florida, jumped out of an airplane at 12,000 feet altitude with a novice skydiver named Gareth Griffith, age twenty-one.
The notice would soon discover just how good his instructor was, for when the novice pulled his ripcord, his parachute failed. Plummeting toward the ground, he faced certain death.
But then the instructor did an amazing thing. Just before hitting the ground, the instructor rolled over so that he would hit the ground first and the novice would land on top of him. The instructor was killed instantly. The novice fractured his spine in the fall, but he was not paralyzed.
One man takes the place of another, takes the brunt for another. One substitutes himself to die so another may live. So it was at the cross, when Jesus died for our sins so that we might live forever.

Choice Contemporary Stories & Illustrations For Preachers, Teachers, & Writers
Craig Brian Larson, Baker Books, p. 57.

JESUS OUR SUBSTITUTION

A particular church recently received personal greetings from the Kejave Medical Center staff in Kenya and read of the following amazing story.
Eight-year-old Monica broke her leg as she fell into a pit. An older woman, Mama Njeri, happened along and climbed into the pit to help get Monica out. In the process, a dangerous black Mamba snake bit both Mama Njeri and Monica. Monica was taken to Kejave Medical Center and admitted. Mama Njeri went home, but never awoke from her sleep.
The next day a perceptive missionary nurse explained Mama Njeri's death to Monica, telling her that the snake had bitten both of them, but all of the snake's poison was expended on Mama Njeri; none was given to Monica. The nurse then explained that Jesus had taken the poison of Monica's sin so that she could have new life. It was an easy choice for Monica. She became a Christian.

The Tale Of The Tardy Oxcart
Charles R. Swindoll, Word, p. 541.

Let the Father pick you up and take you back to his house.

On February 24, 2001, a one-year old Canadian girl named Erika somehow wandered out of her mother’s bed and house and spent the entire night in the Edmonton winter.
When her mother, Leyla Nordby, found her, Erika appeared to be totally frozen. Her legs were stiff, her body frozen, and all signs of life appeared to be gone.
Erika was treated at Edmonton’s Stollery Children’s Health Center, and God helped doctors and rescue workers bring her back to life. To the amazement of all, there appeared to be no sign of brain damage, and doctors gave Erika a clear prognosis—she would soon be able to hop and skip and play like other girls her age.
Some of us have wandered away from our Father’s house, and it has brought us near the point of death. Our hearts have hardened, and our spiritual bodies look as lifeless as the little girl in the snow.
But our Father noticed we were missing and is searching for us. He can take our lifeless spirits and restore us to health. Let the Father pick you up and take you back to his house.

Author Unknown.

Sin and Satan can and will take a person to the bottom!

One night a man was brought into New York’s busy Bellvue Hospital. He appeared to be just another bum with a slashed throat.
He had been brought in from the Bowery, which in many cases was the last stop before the morgue. The Bowery was a synonym of filth, loneliness, cheap booze, drugs, disease, and the dead end of many a life.He looked like all the rest. It was obvious that he had only lived to drink. His health was gone. He was cold and starving. On that icy January morning, this man who looked twice his age, was found lying in a heap, naked and bleeding from a deep gash in this throat. His forehead was badly bruised and he was semi-conscious.
A doctor was called…however, time ran out. The man died…and was sent to the morgue.
There among dozens of colorless, nameless corpses with tags on their toes, the man was identified. When they scrapped together his belongings, they found a ragged, dirty coat with 38 cents in one pocket and a scrap of paper in the other. This was all his earthly goods. Enough coins for another night in the Bowery and five words on a piece of paper;
“Dear friends and gentle hearts.”
Once upon a time before his tragic death at age 38, this man had written songs that literally made the whole world sing:
Camptown Races
Oh! Susanna!
Beautiful Dreamer
Jeannie with the Light Brown Hair
Old Folks at Home
My Old Kentucky Home and over 200 more.
The bum found in the Bowery was Stephen Foster. What happened? Who knows for sure, but one thing is obvious.
Sin and Satan can and will take a person to the bottom!
Author Unknown.

JESUS OUR SUBSTITUTION

Back in the days of the Great Depression, a Missouri man named John Griffith was the controller of a great railroad drawbridge across the Mississippi River. One day in the summer of 1937, he decided to take his eight-year-old son, Greg, with him to work. At noon, John Griffith put the bridge up to allow ships to pass and sat on the observation deck with his son to eat lunch. Time passed quickly. Suddenly he was startled by the shrieking of a train whistle in the distance. He quickly looked at his watch and noticed it was 1:07--the Memphis Express, with four hundred passengers on board, was roaring toward the raised bridge! He leaped from the observation deck and ran back to the control tower.
Just before throwing the master lever he glanced down for any ships below.
There a sight caught his eye that caused his heart to leap into his throat. Greg, his son, had slipped from the observation deck and had fallen into the massive gears that operate the bridge.
His left leg was caught in the cogs of the two main gears! Desperately John's mind whirled to devise a rescue plan. But as soon as he thought of a possibility, he knew there was no way it could be done in time.
Again, with alarming closeness, the train whistle shrieked in the air.
He could hear the clicking of the locomotive wheels over the tracks.

That was his son down there--yet there were four hundred passengers on the train. John knew what he had to do, so he buried his head in his left arm and pushed the master switch forward.

The great massive bridge lowered into place just as the Memphis Express began to roar across the river.

John Griffith sacrificed his son to save four hundred passengers on that train. Likewise, God sacrificed His son to save you and me.

The Tale Of The Tardy Oxcart - Charles R. Swindoll, Word, pp. 541-542.

Jesus rescued us from our sins

One day a wealthy English family invited some friends over to spend some time at their beautiful estate. However, the happy gathering almost turned into a terrible tragedy on the first day. You see when the children went swimming, one of them got into deep water and was drowning.
But fortunately, the gardener heard the others screaming and plunged into the pool to rescue the helpless victim. That youngster was Winston Churchill. His parents, deeply grateful to the gardener, asked what they could do to reward him.
He hesitated, then said, "I wish my son could go to college someday and become a doctor."
"We'll pay his way," replied Churchill's parents.

Years later when Sir Winston Churchill was Prime Minister of England, he was stricken with pneumonia. Greatly concerned, the king summoned the best physician who could be found to the bedside of the ailing leader. That doctor was Sir Alexander Fleming, the developer of penicillin. He was also the son of that gardener who had saved Winston from drowning as a boy!
My friends, at one time, we ourselves were drowning in our sins.
We were dying of a serious illness called sin.
But on one glories day, Jesus rescued us from our sins.
Author unknown.

PEACE

PEACE IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE IS THE ISSUE OF PARDON AND purity. There can be no peace so long as sin is unforgiven; there can be no perfect peace so long as impurity remains in the life, dominant and influential.
Peace is a necessary sequence in experience; if indeed my trespasses are forgiven, if indeed my consciousness is purged, then issues peace.

“PEACE BY THE CROSS “ By G. CAMPBELL MORGAN
See the full sermon at Sermons

PEACE

And how we long for peace. Oh, the restlessness of the present age! Oh, the friction!
Sometimes one pauses to listen and it seems as though surging through the cities, coming up from the quieter country, beating on the listening car, from all the continents and the isles of the sea, there is the noise of strife and battle, man within himself hot and restless, feverish, lacking peace; man battling with his brother man for territory, for commerce, for advance; man out of harmony with Nature, losing his love of the beautiful, failing to interpret its message of God, but slowly discovering its deep underlying secrets. Peace seems absent,
and yet how man longs for it,
sighs after it,
sings about it,
courts it, and fails to find it.

“PEACE BY THE CROSS” By G. CAMPBELL MORGAN
See the full sermon at Sermons

Salvation

For three years I was a lifeguard. They fired me because every time I saw somebody raise their hand because they were drowning I said, “Yes, I see that hand! God bless you! Is there another? Yes, God bless you, too!”

Okay, I made up that part, but I really was a lifeguard. And one of the things that all lifeguards know is that you can’t save anybody as long as they’re trying to save themselves, because they’ll take you under the water with them. You swim out to them, and they’re flailing around in the water until finally they just give up and collapse. Once they give up, it’s really easy........you just put your arm over their shoulder and swim back to shore. There’s nothing to it.

But you can’t save them as long as they’re trying to save themselves.

Rick Warren, THE HEART OF CHRISTMAS, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, 1998, p. 103.

Max Lucado, in his book THE APPLAUSE OF HEAVEN, asks the reader to imagine that he/she is an ice skater, about to perform in a very important competition. Her nerves are on edge. Her concentration keeps slipping. But then, someone runs up and tells her that her cumulative score has already put her in first place. None of the other skaters are even close. No matter how she does in this one performance, she will still win the whole competition.

Now when the skater goes out to perform, she is confident, calm, brave, electric. What does she have to be anxious about? She’s already won. In the same way, the Bible tells us that Jesus has already won the victory over sin and death. What do we have to fear now? We can go out and minister boldly and joyfully because we know that Jesus has already won the fight for us.

Excerpted in LET THE JOURNEY BEGIN by Max Lucado (Nashville: Word Pub., 1998), p. 11.

Bert was one of two scouts who moved out into the clearing. Once he was halfway across the field, the remainder of his battalion followed. Suddenly the Germans opened fire, and machine gun fire ripped into both of Bert's legs. The American battalion withdrew into the woods for protection, while a rapid exchange of fire continued.

Bert lay helplessly in a small stream as shots volleyed overhead. There seemed to be no way out. To make matters worse, he now noticed that a German soldier was crawling toward him. Death appeared imminent; he closed his eyes and waited. To his surprise, a considerable period passed without the expected attack, so he ventured opening his eyes again. He was startled to see the German kneeling at his side, smiling. He then noticed that the shooting had stopped. Troops from both sides of the battlefield watched anxiously. Without any verbal exchange, this mysterious German reached down to lift Bert in his arms and proceeded to carry him to the safety of Bert's comrades.

Having accomplished his self-appointed mission, and still without speaking a word, the German soldier turned and walked back across the field to his own troop. No one dared break the silence of this sacred moment. Moments later the cease-fire ended, but not before all those present had witnessed how one man risked everything for his enemy.

Bert's life was saved through the compassion of a man whom he considered his enemy.

by Murray McCandless

It was a clear night in the summer of 1995 when American Airlines Flt.#965 from Miami, FL was setting up for the final approach to the Cali Columbia Airport. It was so routine, that the crew had been discussing seniority in the company rather than paying close heed to the position of their new Boeing, equipped with the latest navigational equipment.

Captain Nick Tafuri called across the yard to his neighbour Monique, when leaving his home in Miami that night "see ya tomorrow night"... but there was no "tomorrow night" for the captain... it was "this night"

"But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself? 'Luke 12:20.

"Where are we?"

These were the final three words of First Officer Don Williams on the ill-fated flight three minutes before it would plough into the side of a Columbian mountain five miles from the airport, taking 157 souls with it. They came so close to avoiding that tragedy. The First Officer immediately pulled up on the aircraft, but those big turbofans take time to spool up. Their desperate bid for altitude was too late. A reporter so rightly assessed the tragedy in the words...

"The most important question came too late."

Some people would like to think that no one knows for sure where they are going, or where they will be when they take that final flight into Eternity. The Bible is given to clearly inform us of our position and condition, and to confirm where we will be forever.

"Where are you my friend?"

There are those who try to convince us that we are going nowhere, and humanity does not have a destination, that we are just in a cycle. If man has no destiny, he has no duty, no obligation and no responsibility. He has no guidelines or goals. Who is to say what is right or what is wrong? Who is to say a partner can't break and ruin a marriage? Who is to say people can't live together before they are married? It is your value system against mine!

No absolutes, no principles, no ethics, no standards! Life then is reduced to weekends, paychecks, and quick thrills. If man has no future, really he is not worth much! However, we know better from the Word of God.

The Lord Jesus said

Matt 7:13 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:

14: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

A man asked a good question in John 14:5 "How can we know the way?" to which Jesus replied verse 6: "I am the way, the truth and the life, no man cometh unto the father but by me!"

Had God given 1001 ways to Heaven, the sinner would still want one more because of the nature of his evil heart! The dominant desire of human beings is to go their own way.

Proverbs 4:19 says The way of the wicked is darkness.

Man has received wrong directions. The devil told him in the Garden of Eden that he did not have to listen to God. What did he think would be best? Since taking those wrong directions, man gropes amid ignorance and error.

Again the Lord Jesus said that he was the door to the narrow way that leads to life. John 10:9 When a person trusts Christ as their Saviour and His work for them at the Cross, taking God's Word for it...they are declared by God as "saved" Romans 10:9.

All are born on the broad road, taking us downward. We are born sinners. Romans 5:12, Romans 3:22-23.

When a person is born again (John 3:3) he is not only saved, but God declares him "his child". John 1:12-13.

Why not take a minute to ask yourself the most important question before it is too late.

"Where am I?"