Weekly sermon5-16-10
How Well Do We Know?
I want to talk about something that is very close to many, if not all, of us. This little thing called the computer has linked many of us together. If you are reading this message then you know exactly what I am talking about. We have many folks on this computer and even in our real daily lives that we really consider great friends, but I have one simple question. How well do we really know these folks?
There is something I want us to take a look at before we proceed farther.
Every Sunday afternoon, after the morning service at the church, the Pastor and his eleven year old son would go into town and hand out Gospel Tracts.
This particular Sunday afternoon, as it came time for the Pastor and his son to go to the streets with their tracts, it was very cold outside, as well as pouring rain.
The boy bundled up in his warmest and driest clothes and said, 'OK, dad, I'm ready.'
His Pastor dad asked, 'Ready for what?'
'Dad, it's time we get our tracts together and go out.'
Dad responds, 'Son, it's very cold outside and it's pouring rain.'
The boy gives his dad a surprised look, asking, 'But Dad, aren't people still going to Hell, even though it's raining?' Dad answers, 'Son, I am not going out in this weather.'
Despondently, the boy asks, 'Dad, can I go? Please?'
His father hesitated for a moment then said, 'Son, you can go. Here are the tracts, be careful ! !"
'Thanks Dad!'
And with that, he was off and out into the rain.. This eleven year old boy walked the streets of the town going door to door and handing everybody he met in the street a Gospel Tract.
After two hours of walking in the rain, he was soaking, bone-chilled wet and down to his VERY LAST TRACT. He stopped on a corner and looked for someone to hand a tract to, but the streets were totally deserted.
Then he turned toward the first home he saw and started up the sidewalk to the front door and rang the door bell. He rang the bell, but nobody answered. He rang it again and again, but still no one answered. He waited but still no answer.
Finally, this eleven year old turned to leave, but something stopped him.
Again, he turned to the door and rang the bell and knocked loudly on the door with his fist. He waited,something was holding him there on the front porch!
He rang again and this time the door slowly opened.
Standing in the doorway was a very sad-looking elderly lady. She softly asked, 'What can I do for you, son?' With radiant eyes and a smile that lit up her world, this little boy said, 'Ma'am, I'm sorry if I disturbed you, but I just want to tell you that * JESUS REALLY DOES LOVE YOU * and I came to give you my very last Gospel Tract which will tell you all about JESUS and His great LOVE.'
With that, he handed her his last tract and turned to leave.
She called to him as he departed. 'Thank you, son! And God Bless You!'
Well, the following Sunday morning in church Pastor Dad was in the pulpit. As the service began, he asked, 'Does anybody have testimony or want to say anything?'
Slowly, in the back row of the church, an elderly lady stood to her feet.
As she began to speak, a look of glorious radiance came from her face, 'No one in this church knows me. I've never been here before. You see, before last Sunday I was not a Christian. My husband passed on some time ago, leaving me totally alone in this world. Last Sunday, being a particularly cold and rainy day, it was even more so in my heart that I came to the end of the line where I no longer had any hope or will to live. So I took a rope and a chair and ascended the stairway into the attic of my home. I fastened the rope securely to a rafter in the roof, then stood on the chair and fastened the other end of the rope around my neck. Standing on that chair, so lonely and broken-hearted I was about to leap off, when suddenly the loud ringing of my doorbell downstairs startled me. I thought, 'I'll wait a minute, and whoever it is will go away.' I waited and waited, but the ringing doorbell seemed to get louder and more insistent, and then the person ringing also started knocking loudly. I thought to myself again, 'Who on earth could this be? Nobody ever rings my bell or comes to see me.' I loosened the rope from my neck and started for the front door, all the while the bell rang louder and louder.
When I opened the door and looked I could hardly believe my eyes, for there on my front porch was the most radiant and angelic little boy I had ever seen in my life. His SMILE, oh, I could never describe it to you!
The words that came from his mouth caused my heart that had long been dead, TO LEAP TO LIFE as he exclaimed with a cherub-like voice, 'Ma'am, I just came to tell you that JESUS REALLY DOES LOVE YOU .' Then he gave me this Gospel Tract that I now hold in my hand.
As the little angel disappeared back out into the cold and rain, I closed my door and read slowly every word of this Gospel Tract. Then I went up to my attic to get my rope and chair. I wouldn't be needing them any more.
You see, I am now a Happy Child of the KING. Since the address of your church was on the back of this Gospel Tract, I have come here to personally say THANK YOU to God's little angel who came just in the nick of time and by so doing, spared my soul from an eternity in hell.'
There was not a dry eye in the church. And as shouts of praise and honor to THE KING bounced off the rafters of the building, Pastor Dad descended from the pulpit to the front pew where the little angel was seated.
He took his son in his arms and sobbed uncontrollably.
Probably no church has had a more glorious moment, and probably this universe has never seen a Papa that was more filled with love & honor for his son.... Except for One.
I wanted us to look at this for one simple reason. How well do we really know the folks behind the screen or even the ones standing in front of us in our daily lives.
Look around you at the folks you call friends, the folks you work for, the ones you work with, or even the ones you come in contact with on a daily basis, either in real life or on this computer. Do you really know how their lives are going?
We tend to only know what that person allows us to know, but if you dug a little deeper or read between the lines or facial and body expressions would we know more about what is going on in their lives.
I would really hate to know that there was someone in my life that I come in contact with all the time and did not see that they were having some sort of problem that would make them consider ending their own life.
This message brought a passage of scripture to mind for me. Matthew 11:28-30, "Come unto me, all [ye] that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. (29)Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. (30)For my yoke [is] easy, and my burden is light."
This passage here actually has several different messages in it and today will will discuss just the one. The message we will discuss here is the secret of rest.
Jesus gives us the very first recorded general invitation here, 'come unto me'. Jesus knows we could never fight the fight of life alone and has made an offer to us that we may find rest.
The rest Jesus is talking about here is not only physical rest but also spiritual rest. When we are down or we are feeling depressed or at the end of our rope Jesus gives us a place to come to find comfort in Him. Jesus knew that we would all feel some sort of pain and heartache in our lives and would need to let us know that He is here to help us, just as He sent that little boy to that lady, in the story, just in time to show her the way.
Just as Jesus stated in Mark 10:27, "And Jesus looking upon them saith, With men [it is] impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible."
They say when you are at the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on. I rather like knowing that when I am at the lowest I can go there is only one place to look and that is up. when I look up I see my creator and know that if He could create this then He could easily fix it.
So I challange each and every one of us to get to know those around us a little deeper. Do they have something going on in their lives that we were put there, by God, to help them with in some way? We could be the one that Christ put in their lives for a reason. We may have been put there to show them a path to God and how it can really change their lives and make them have the lives they only hoped they could have. So, I ask again, how well do we know? If we allow someone to fall when we were right there looking them in the eyes, then their blood is on our hands. Let us step up and make sure that we are doing all we can to make a persons life one they think is worth living, just as we know it really should be.
If you want to know how to get rest and complete help from the One that created all and knows all then all you have to do is meet Jesus. To meet Him all you have to do is say a simple prayer with me.
Say this simple prayer with me, Dear Lord, I want you to be the Lord over my life, forgive me of my sins, and give me the gift of everlasting life. Amen.
If you have said this simple prayer, then we believe that you have received salvation. We would love to rejoice with you, so please drop us a note, in our link, to let us know and confess Jesus before man, so that we may send you a few things that we hope will help you in your new Christian walk.
With Love in Christ,
Pastor Stone
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