Power of the Gospel

Chuck Colson tells the following story about God’s reconciling power.

There was a widow by the name of Roxie Vaughn, eighty-two years old, blind from birth. We told her, “Roxie, we are coming in to restore your house and winterize it.” Roxie was delighted. “Six convicts will supply the labor,” we continued; then she turned ashen white. You see, Roxie’s home had been burglarized four times in the previous two years. But the third day those convicts were in her house, there was Roxie playing her small electric organ, and there were the six prisoners behind her singing “Amazing Grace.” That is the reconciling power of the Gospel!

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”—2 Corinthians 5:17-21.

 

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Be Careful How You Dress

It was still dark when I got dressed for church yesterday morning. I thought I had enough light to see to dress myself properly. Turned out I was wrong.

In between our two church services, I noticed that the socks I was wearing were not the socks that I thought I put on. The color didn’t match my pants or my shoes. Luckily, I worship with a group of people who are either too nice to point out such mistakes, or too busy with important matters to even notice such a trivial thing.

This is just a reminder of the dangers of dressing yourself while living in spiritual darkness. Those who live in darkness don’t realize that they are clothing themselves with filthy rags when they choose to live lives of sin and debauchery. Children of God are called out of darkness to live in the light of Jesus Christ. They trade in their filthy rags of sin to be clothed in the righteousness provided by Christ.

“For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth).—Ephesians 5:8-9.

“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.”—Colossians 3:12.

 

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Now That’s Productive!

Playing baseball for Southern California a few years ago, Bill Peavey homered twice in one game. The second home run landed on a golf course and rolled onto a green and into the cup! A home run and a hole-in-one with one swing! Now that’s what I would call being productive!

In the parable of the sower (Mark 4:1-20), Jesus talks about the different types of soil that represent the human heart. Soil that is hard, shallow or thorny will not produce a crop. But the receptive soil, the heart that hears the word of God and accepts it, will produce up to 100 times what was sown.

That’s the kind of production Jesus wants to see in our lives.

 

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Still Connected

Laura Lovejoy tells about a time when she had the opportunity to minister to a lady whose dementia was so advanced that she no longer recognized her husband. Laura knew through her family that the lady had been a woman of deep faith. She held the lady’s hand and talked to her, hoping some word of comfort might reach her. And when Laura started saying the Lord’s Prayer, she joined in word for word. Though her connection to the world had faltered, her connection to God remained.

So it is with those who devote themselves to prayer and the Word of God.

“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.”—Acts 2:42.

 

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Family Name

There once was a fellow who was curious about his family history, so he paid someone $200 to do some extensive research about his ancestors. When the report came back, the man was shocked to discover that he had many criminals and other despicable people in his family tree. So he gave the researcher another $1,000 to keep everything quiet!

If we wear the name “Christian”, we should have a great desire to honor the family name. This desire should have a profound effect on what we say and what we do. Jesus tells us to pray that our heavenly Father’s name will be honored. A big part of how that prayer is answered has to do with our actions.

Let’s do our best to bring honor to our family name.

“This, then, is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.’”—Matthew 6:9.

 

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Unusual Title

A lady once came in to the office of a large church, wanting to see the Pastor of Missions. This was a large church, with several pastors, each with a specific title—Senior Pastor, Pastor of Caring and Fellowship, and so on. The lady was searching in her mind for the correct title of the person she wished to see. Finally, she asked the church receptionist, “May I see the Minister of Passion?”

While this would be an unusual title for a pastor, in a very real sense God has called all of his people to be ministers of passion. Let us be reminded of what Jesus says should be our top priorities—“’…Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”—Matthew 22:37-40.

 

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Old Clothes

A husband reluctantly agreed to allow his wife to sell some of his old clothes in her yard sale. He thought they were fine, but she insisted that they were outdated.

One shopper came by, picked up one of the old outfits, and exclaimed, “This is perfect!”

The husband quickly gave his wife a smug look—until the woman continued, “These will look terrific on my scarecrow!”

Sometimes we think the filthy rags of our sinful lives look pretty good. But in reality, we need to exchange those dirty old clothes for the robes of righteousness that Jesus offers to everyone who will accept his grace and mercy.

“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.”—Colossians 3:12.

 

 

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He Heard You

Winston Churchill

A story is told about a time when Winston Churchill was attending an official ceremony in London. Two men behind him recognized him and began to whisper behind his back.

“They say Churchill’s quite senile now,” said one.

“Yes, and they say he’s doing England more harm than good,” replied the other.

“They say he should step aside and leave the running of this government to younger, more dynamic people,” continued the first man.

Churchill turned and in a loud voice said, “They also say he’s quite deaf.”

Your gossip, grumbling and criticism might be heard by more people than you think!

“Don’t grumble against one another, brothers and sisters, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door!”—James 5:9.

 

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New Ways

I don’t put much stock in the predictions of Chinese fortune cookies, but I usually read mine to see what it says. At my most recent stop at a Chinese restaurant, my fortune cookie said, “You will be asked to step up to the plate in new ways.”

I hated to hear that. The ways that I am currently stepping up to the plate seem to be all I can handle most days! I am not sure that I am ready for any “new ways”, whatever that might entail.

Then I got to thinking about people in the Bible who embraced “new ways”. Moses traded shepherding sheep for shepherding people. Perfume-makers and goldsmiths became bricklayers for Nehemiah when the circumstances called for it. Some of the disciples switched from one type of fishing to another.

I suppose that if the Lord calls upon me to do some things differently, I had better step to the plate and take my best swing.

“…I am making everything new!…”—Revelation 21:5.

 

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Learning How to Pray

A busy mother and housewife had worked hard all day to prepare to have some guests over for an evening meal. When it came time to sit down and eat, the lady asked her young daughter if she would say a prayer. The little girl protested, “But Mommy, I don’t know how to pray!”

“Sure you do, honey. Just pray like you’ve heard me pray.”

“OK. Dear Lord, as busy as I am, why did I invite all those people over tonight!?”

It is important that we learn how to pray properly. When his disciples asked him to teach them how to pray, he gave them, and us, a model to go by. (Luke 11:1-4).

Let us continue to learn from the Master by using the model prayer.

 

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