By Steve Higginbotham
Harrison Okene unexpectedly found himself in a
hopeless situation earlier this year. He found himself on the bottom of
the ocean, in a small air-pocket in his overturned tugboat, sunk by a rogue
wave. Harrison was in total darkness, disoriented, all alone, and dressed
only in boxer shorts in freezing temperatures. For 60 hours, he fumbled
in total darkness, trembled due to the cold, listened while fish were consuming
the bodies of his fellow crewmen, and waited for his oxygen supply to run out.
Then when his oxygen supply was just about gone, an
amazing thing happened. A rescue diver appeared. Harrison was given
oxygen, led to a decompression chamber, and gradually raised to the
surface. Snatched from the jaws of death. What seemed like a
hopeless situation only proved to be the setting for his salvation. Now
Harrison lives to tell others of how he was saved.
Have you ever felt spiritually hopeless? Have
you ever felt that you were beyond the reach of God's saving grace? Then
let me remind you of this. If a drunken, incestuous father (Lot); a lying
harlot (Rahab); a murderous adulterer (David); and a persecutor of the church
(Saul/Paul) can be forgiven and held up as examples of great men and women of
faith, then there's hope for you too!
Try an image the joy and relief Harrison Okene must
have experienced when he reached out and touched his rescuers hand! Hope
from hopelessness! Likewise, imagine the joy and relief that is
experienced by the sinner who reaches out and takes hold of the Savior's hand!
Hope from hopelessness!
To those of you who have been saved by God, and now
have life; tell others about it! Tell how God rescued you from a hopeless
situation and gave you hope! "Let the redeemed of the Lord say
so!" (Psalm 107:2).
- Steve Higginbotham preaches for the Karns Church of Christ in Knoxville, TN.
He may be contacted through the congregation's website at
ttp://www.karnschurch.org
A ninety-year-old man approached a preacher after worship.
The man had been blind from birth, and told the preacher he wanted to “see”
him. He ran his fingers over the minister’s face, and then began to cry.
“When I open my eyes for the first time, you know who I will be
looking at, don’t you?”
The preacher said, “Yes, you will be looking at Jesus.”
The man then cried out with joy. “It is worth being blind
for ninety years to know that the first time I open my eyes I will be looking
at Jesus!”
“Behold, he cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see him”
(Revelation 1:7).
- via THE SOWER, a weekly publication of the Arthur Church of Christ,
Arthur, IL. Ron Bartanen, who serves as minister and editor, may be contacted
through the congregation's website: http://www.arthurchurchofchrist.com
Editors have a difficult job as is evident from these mishaps:
~ IMPORTANT NOTICE: If you are one of hundreds of parachuting enthusiasts
who bought our Easy Sky Diving book, please make the following correction: on
page 8, line 7, the words "state zip code" should have read
"pull rip cord."
~ It was incorrectly reported last Friday that today is T-shirt Appreciation
Day. In fact, it is actually Teacher Appreciation Day.
~ There are two important corrections to the information in the update on our
Deep Relaxation professional development program. First, the program will
include meditation, not medication. Second, it is experiential, not
experimental.
~ Our newspaper carried the notice last week that Mr. Oscar Hoffnagle is a
defective on the police force. This was a typographical error. Mr.
Hoffnagle is, of course, a detective on the police farce.
~ Apology: I originally wrote, "Woodrow Wilson's wife grazed sheep
on front lawn of the White House." I'm sorry that typesetting inadvertently
left out the word "sheep."
~ In one edition of today's Food Section, an inaccurate number of jalapeno
peppers was given for Jeanette Crowley's Southwestern chicken salad
recipe. The recipe should call for two, not 21, jalapeno peppers.
~ The marriage of Miss Freda vanAmburg and Willie Branton, which was announced
in this paper a few weeks ago, was a mistake which we wish to correct.
We've all been there. We've all said something we
shouldn't have said, or we said something in a way that was hurtful (often when
we didn't intend to do so). Newspaper editors have learned that whenever
they make a mistake, the best thing to do is to publicly announce (as quickly
as possible), “I've messed up. I didn't intend to but I did, and I want
you to know that I’m sorry.”
It’s a lesson we would all do well to learn. Instead
of denying responsibility, instead of pretending it never happened, instead of
making excuses, we need to learn to say, “I've messed up. I didn't intend
to but I did, and I want you to know that I’m sorry.”
That kind of honesty is necessary to restore our
relationship with people around us. More than that, it is necessary to
restore our relationship with God.
“If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and
the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just
to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (I John
1:8-9)
The one thing that is absolutely necessary to restore
relationships is the thing we often find most difficult – honesty.
Perhaps there’s someone whom you have hurt recently by your words or your
deeds. Don’t put it off. Let them know, “I've messed up. I
didn't intend to but I did, and I want you to know that I’m sorry.” Doing
that won’t be a mistake you’ll need to correct later!
Have a great day!
- Alan Smith, author of the popular "Thought For Today," and minister
for the Fayetteville Church of Christ in Fayetteville, NC, may be contacted at
alansmith.servant@gmail.com
By Steve Higginbotham
After Elvis would finish performing at one of his
concerts, his fans would be left cheering for more, hoping that he would come
back on stage to sing another song. Then the P.A. announcer would make
the statement, “Elvis has left the building.” That was the queue to the
fans that the concert was over and it was time to leave.
Well, if I may use that phrase as a jumping off point,
I think the church needs to realize that “Jesus has left the building.”
This leaves us with a decision to make. Will we stay huddled in the
building, practicing a very limited in scope, form of Christianity? Or
will we leave the building too, and follow Jesus?
Friends, Jesus has left the building, and he needs his
church to follow him and leave the building too. Our assemblies of
worship and study are wonderful. And Jesus joins us in them.
However, Jesus doesn’t stay in an empty building all week long, just waiting
for the next worship service. Likewise, the church needs to assemble, but
it also needs to follow Jesus and “leave the building.”
When Sunday’s over, let’s leave the building and
throughout the week, engage society, challenge culture, call men to holiness,
be lights in the workplace and at school, and point people to Jesus.
- Steve Higginbotham preaches for the Karns Church of Christ in Knoxville, TN.
He may be contacted through the congregation's website at
http://www.karnschurch.org
When Christian Herter was governor
of Massachusetts , he was running hard for a second term in office. One day,
after a busy morning chasing votes (and no lunch) he arrived at a church
barbecue. It was late afternoon and Herter was famished.
As Herter moved down the serving
line, he held out his plate to the woman serving chicken. She put a piece on
his plate and turned to the next person in line.
“Excuse me,” Governor Herter said,
“do you mind if I have another piece of chicken?” “Sorry,” the woman told him.
“I’m supposed to give one piece of chicken to each person.” “But I’m starved,”
the governor said. “Sorry,” the woman said again.... “Only ONE to a customer.”
Governor Herter was a modest and
unassuming man, but he decided that this time he would throw a little weight
around.
“Do you know WHO I am?” he said. “I
am the GOVERNOR of this state.”
“Do you know WHO I am?” the woman
responded. “I’m the lady in charge
of the chicken. Move along, mister.” *
That was quite a lesson on
authority, wasn’t it? It was a lesson in humility, too. Who is the
authority in YOUR life? It is important that we get it right.
Many times, we like to be “in
charge” – or at least think we are. We even try to
“throw our weight around” in order to have things our own way.
The TRUTH is: WE are not in charge -
there is a higher Authority! And we need to learn to HUMBLE ourselves and
SUBMIT to this Authority while we can. God
has made Jesus both Lord and Christ (Acts 2:36). Jesus died on the cross
to become our Savior – to pay the price for our sins. Then Jesus rose
from the dead three days later. Now, He lives to be our Lord!
EVERY tongue WILL confess that Jesus
Christ is Lord (Philippians 2:11).
The only question is WHEN? To confess it NOW means salvation; to WAIT to
confess it on the Day of Judgment will mean condemnation....
Jesus said, "Not everyone who
SAYS to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who DOES the
will of My Father in heaven” (Matthew 7:21).
To confess Christ as Lord – AND to have
Him as our Savior – means to trust and obey Him: believing in Him (Acts
16:30-31), turning from sin in repentance to follow Him (2 Corinthians 7:9-10),
confessing Him before men (Romans 10:9-10), and to be baptized (immersed) in
His name for the forgiveness of our sins (Acts 2:38). Confessing Christ
as Lord also requires that we continue to follow Him faithfully.
"But why do you call Me 'Lord,
Lord,' and do not DO the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46).
We need to “move along” in obedience
to the Lord. Have YOU submitted your life to the Lord?
- David A. Sargent, minister for the Church of Christ at Creekwood in Mobile,
Alabama, is also the editor of an electronic devotional entitled Living
Water." To learn more about this excellent resource contact
David via their website: http://www.creekwoodcc.org
* Bits & Pieces, May 28, 1992, Page 5-6
By Alan Smith
I heard this story about the owner of a Rolls Royce. It
certainly sounds as if could be true:
The great British automaker takes great pride in the reliability
of their handcrafted automobiles. An obviously wealthy owner of a Rolls
took it to Europe on an extended trip. While traveling in France the car
had some mechanical problem. He called the Rolls Royce factory and asked
that they send out a mechanic straightaway to fix the problem.
The company responded in royal fashion. They put a mechanic
on a private jet with all of the necessary tools and flew him over to France to
make the repairs. The owner was so wealthy that he wasn't at all
concerned about the cost, and he would not spare any expense to assure that his
beloved Rolls Royce was properly repaired.
However, after several months he realized he had not received a
bill. He directed his secretary to contact the Rolls Royce factory to
inquire about the bill. He received a prompt reply from the Rolls Royce
company. With typical British aplomb, it said simply, "We have no
recollection or record of any Rolls Royce having ever had a breakdown or being
in need of repair anywhere in France."
That reminds me of how God treats us when he forgives us of sin.
Sometimes we have a harder time forgiving ourselves than does God. We
sometimes feel weighed down with the burden of guilt long after God has removed
the burden of sin. We need to follow God's instructions to find
forgiveness, then trust that God has kept his promise to forgive. Like
Rolls Royce, God says, "I have no recollection or record of any sin being
committed." Take comfort from these words:
"As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed
our transgressions from us." (Psa. 103:12)
"For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their
sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." (Heb. 8:12)
Praise be to the God who "forgets" when He forgives!
Have a great day!
- Alan Smith, author of the popular "Thought
For Today," and minister for the Fayetteville Church of Christ in
Fayetteville, NC, may be contacted at alansmith.servant@gmail.com
I read of a man who carried a little can of oil wherever he went. If
he passed through a door that squeaked, he poured a drop of oil on the
hinges, and if a gate was hard to open, he oiled the latch. So he
passed through life lubricating all the creaking places, making it a
little more pleasant for those who followed after him.
There is no telling how many lives you and I could keep from rusting
and squeaking, and how many gates we could open to happiness, if only we
would take a little oil of brotherly love and human kindness. Let us
use it wherever we are, for there are many lives rusting away in sin.
- Author unknown; via THE SOWER, a weekly publication of the Arthur
Church of Christ, Arthur, IL. Ron Bartanen, who serves as minister and
editor, may be contacted through the congregation's website:
http://www.arthurchurchofchrist.com
