Tue, Sep 23rd - 8:37AM
A PICNIC TRIP
A PICNIC TRIP
Posted on 23/09/2014 by ALEX TITLEY
One cold early morning Eros and Bartie Savage motored out into San Francisco Bay in their cabin cruiser to share a picnic dinner. They saw a college rowing team and waved to them. The water was very choppy that afternoon, but they continued toward the San Mateo Bridge.
They sought passage through the drawbridge, but they were waved off by the keeper of the bridge because of the huge waves in the water ahead.
They were about to head for home when they saw a red light glowing in the distance; it was in the shape of a cross. They were interested in the source of the light, so they steered the boat to investigate. They had to go through sallow, muddy water and they knew that it was dangerous; the mud could get in the engine and ruin the boat.
Sure enough, mud began to come out of the exhaust pipe and the engine temperature reached the danger zone. But they pressed on, compelled to find the source of that red glowing light in the shape of a cross. When they finally reached the light they saw that it was only a bouy reflecting the red light of the sunset. The Savages felt foolish; they had risked their boat to chase a mirage.
Just then Bartie commented, “Look at all the coconuts in the water.” But when they looked closer they saw that they were not coconuts, they were the men from the rowing team. Their boat had crashed into the bridge and sunk. They had been in the icy water for an hour and had been tossed around by the waves so that they had also swallowed an hour’s worth of saltwater. They were close to death. They had come to a point of desperation and had prayed together to be rescued. The Savages pulled them aboard.
GOD ANSWERED THEIR PRAYER FOR RESCUE WITH THE SIGHT OF A CROSS.
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Mon, Sep 15th - 8:55AM
THE FINAL WITNESS, THE GOD WHO PROVES HIS POINT
NARATOR: John doesn’t tell us everything JESUS did. But he tells us those acts that will lead us to faith. John selects Seven Miracles. He begins softly with the quite miracle of water to wine, and then crescendos to the public resurrection of Lazarus. Seven Miracles are offered, and Seven witnesses are examined, each one building on the testimony of the previous. Let’s see if we can feel their full impact.
Pretend you are in a courtroom, a nearly empty courtroom, present are Four people: A JUDGE: A LAWYER: A ORPHAN: and a would-be GUARDIAN: The Judge is GOD, JESUS is the one who seeks to be the Guardian, and YOU are the Orphan. (is your imagination working yet?). You have no name, no inheritance, and no home. The Lawyer is proposing that you be placed in JESU’S care.
Who is the Lawyer? A Galilean fisherman by the name of John. He has presented the court with six witnesses. It is time for the seventh. But before calling him to the stand, the Lawyer reviews the case.
JOHN: “We started this case with the wedding in Cana.”
NARRATOR: John paces as he speaks, MEASURING EACH WORD.
JOHN:”They had no wine, none at all. But JESUS spoke, water became wine. The best wine. Delicious wine. You heard the testimony of the wedding attendants. THEY saw it happen.”
NARRATOR: John pauses, then moves on.
JOHN: “Then we heard the words of the foreign official. His son was nearly dead.”
NARRATOR: You nod.
JOHN: You remember the man’s testimony. Articulate he had spoken of how he had called every doctor and tried every treatment, but nothing had helped his son. Just when he was about to give up hope, someone told him about a healer in Galilee. Through his thickened accent the dignitary had explained, “I had no other choice, I went to him out of desperation. Look! Look what the teacher did for my son.”
NARRATOR: The boy had stood, and you had stared. It was hard to believe such a healthy youngster had ever been near to death. You listen intently as John continues.
JOHN: “And your honour, don’t forget the crippled man near the pool. For thirty-eight years he had not walked. But then JESUS came and, ------well, the court saw him.
Remember? We saw him walk into this courtroom. We heard his story. “And as if that was not enough, we also heard the testimony of the boy with the lunch. He was part of a crowd of thousands who had followed JESUS in order to hear Him teach and to see Him heal. Just when the little boy was about to open his lunch box to eat, he was asked to bring it to JESUS. One minute it held a lunch, the next it held a feast.”
NARRATOR: John pauses again, letting the silence of the courthouse speak. No one can deny these testimonies. The Judge listens. The Lawyer listens, and you, the orphan, say nothing.
JOHN: “Then there was the storm. Peter described it to us. The boat bouncing on the waves. Thunder. Lightning. Storms like that can kill. I know, I used to make a living on a boat! Peter’s testimony about what happened was true. I was there, the Master walked on Water. And the moment He stepped into the boat, we were safe.”
NARRATOR: John pauses again. Sunlight squared by a window makes a box on the floor. John steps into the box.
JOHN: “Then yesterday, you met a man who had never seen light. His world was dark. He was blind. Blind by birth.
NARRATOR: John pauses and dramatically states what the man born blind had said:
JOHN: “JESUS healed my eyes.” SIX testimonies have been given. SIX miracles have been verified.
NARRATOR: John gestures toward the table where sit the articles of evidence: The water jugs that held the wine. The signed affidavit of the doctor who’d treated the sick son. The cot of the cripple. The basket of the boys. Peter brought a broken oar to show the strength of the storm. And the blind man had left his cup and cane. He didn’t need to beg anymore.
JOHN: Turning to the Judge, “and now we have one final witness to call and one more piece of evidence to submit.”
NARRATOR: John goes to his table and returns with a white linen sheet. You learn forward, unsure of what he is holding.
JOHN: “This is a burial shroud,”
NARRATOR: Placing the clothing on the table John requests,
JOHN: “Your honour permitting, I call our final witness to the chair, Lazarus of Bethany.”
NARRATOR: Heavy courtroom doors open and a tall man enters. He strides down the aisle and pauses before JESUS long enough to place a hand on his shoulders and say,
LAZARUS: “THANK YOU.”
NARRATOR: You can hear the tenderness in his voice. Lazarus then turns and takes his seat in the witness chair.
JOHN: “State your name for the court.”
LAZARUS: “Lazarus.”
JOHN: “Have you heard of a man called JESUS of Nazareth”?
LAZARUS: “Who hasn’t”?
JOHN: “How do you know him”?
LAZARUS: He is my friend. We, my sisters and I have a house in Bethany. When He comes to Jerusalem, he often stays with us. My sisters, Mary and Martha, have become believers in him as well.
JOHN: Believers?
LAZARUS: Believe that He is the Messiah. The Son of GOD.
JOHN: Why do you believe that?
NARRATOR: Lazarus smiles.
LAZARUS: How could I not believe? I WAS DEAD. But JESUS called me out of the grave.
JOHN: Tell us what happened.
LAZARUS: Well, I’ve always been sickly. That’s why I’ve stayed with my sisters, you know. They care for me. My heart never has never been the strongest, so I have to be careful. Martha, the oldest sister, she’s, well, she’s like a mother to me. It was Martha who called JESUS when my heart failed.
JOHN: Is that when you died?
LAZARUS: No, but almost. I lingered for a few days. But I knew I was near the edge. The doctors would just come in and shake their heads and walkout again. I had one sandal in the grave.
JOHN: Is that when JESUS came?
LAZARUS: No, we kept hoping He would, Martha would sit by the bed at night, and she would whisper over and over and over again, be strong Lazarus, JESUS will be here any minute. We just knew He would come. I mean, he had healed all those strangers; surely He would heal me. I was his friend!
JOHN: What delayed Him?
LAZARUS: For the longest time we didn’t know. I thought he might be in prison or something. I kept waiting and waiting. Every day I got weaker. My vision faded, and I couldn’t see. I drifted in and out of consciousness. Every time someone entered the room, I thought it might be Him. But it never was. He never came.
JOHN: Were you angry?
LAZARUS: More confused than angry. I just didn’t understand.
JOHN: Then it happened?
LAZARUS: Well, I woke up one night. My chest was tight I could hardly breathe, I must have sat up because Martha and Mary came to my bed. They took my hand. I heard them calling my name, but then I began to fall. It was like a dream; I was falling, spinning wildly in mid air. Their voices grew fainter and then nothing. The spinning stopped. I was at peace.
JOHN: At peace!
LAZARUS: Like I was asleep. Resting. Tranquil, I WAS DEAD!
JOHN: Then what happened?
LAZARUS: Well Martha can tell the details. The funeral was planned, the family came, friends travelled from Jerusalem. They buried me!
JOHN: Did JESUS come to the funeral?
LAZARUS: No!
JOHN: He still wasn’t there?
LAZARUS: No, when he heard I was buried, he waited an extra four days.
JOHN: Why?
NARRATOR: Lazarus stopped and looked at JESUS, and said.
LAZARUS: To make His point.
NARRATOR: John smiled knowingly.
JOHN: What happened next?
LAZARUS: I heard His voice.
JOHN: Whose voice?
LAZARUS: The voice of JESUS.
JOHN: But I thought you were dead!
LAZARUS: I was.
JOHN: I, uh, thought you were in a grave!
LAZARUS: I was.
JOHN: How does a dead man in a grave hear the voice of a man?
LAZARUS: He doesn’t. The dead hear only the voice of GOD! I heard the voice of GOD.
JOHN: What did He say?
LAZARUS: He didn’t say it; He SHOUTED it.
JOHN: What did He shout?
LAZARUS: Lazarus, COME OUT!
JOHN: And you heard Him?
LAZARUS: As if He were in the tomb with me. My eyes opened; my fingers moved; I lifted my head; I was alive again; I heard the stone being rolled away; the light poured in, it took a minute for my eyes to adjust.”
JOHN: What did you see?
LAZARUS: A circle of faces looking in at me.
JOHN: Then what did you do?
LAZARUS: I stood up. JESUS gave me His hand and pulled me out. He told the people to get me some real clothes, and they did.
JOHN: So you died, were in the tomb four days, then JESUS called you back to life? Were there any witnesses to this?
NARRATOR: Lazarus chuckles.
LAZARUS: Only a hundred or so!
JOHN: That’s all, Lazarus, thank-you. You may step down.
NARRATOR: John turns to the judge.
JOHN: You have heard the testimonies, I now leave the decision in your in your hands.
NARRATOR: With that he returns to the table and takes his seat. The guardian stands. He doesn’t identify himself. He doesn’t need to. All recognise him. He is JESUS CHRIST! JESUS’ voice fills the courtroom.
JESUS: I represent an orphan who is the sum of all you have seen. Like the party that had no wine, this one has no cause for celebration. Like the dignitary’s son, this child is spiritually ill. Like the cripple and the beggar, he can’t walk and is blind. He is starving, but earth has no food to fill him. He faces storms as severe as the one on Galilee, but earth has no compass to guide him. And most of all, he is dead. Just like Lazarus. DEAD. Spiritually dead. I will do for him what I did for them, I’ll give him Joy, Strength, Healing, Sight, Safety, Nourishment, New Life. All are his. If you will permit.
NARRATOR: The Judge speaks His answer.
JUDGE: I will permit it, on one condition. That the orphan REQUESTS it.
NARRATOR: John has presented the witnesses, the witnesses have told their stories. The Master has offered to do for you what He did for them. He will bring wine to your table, sight to your eyes, strength for your step, and, most of all, power over your grave. He will do for you what He did for them. The Judge has given His blessings. The rest is up to you.
NOW THE CHOICE IS YOURS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Sat, Sep 13th - 11:43AM
I AM WHAT GOD SAYS I AM! part 1
I AM CHOSEN:
“For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight.” (Ephesians:1:4)
I AM SAVED BY GRACE:
“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” (Eph:2:8-9)
I AM ACCEPTED:
“To the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.” (Eph:1:6)
I AM REDEEMED:
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.” (Galatians:3:13)
I AM FORGIVEN:
“And be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving one another, even as GOD in CHRIST forgave you.” (Eph:4:32)
I AM JUSTIFIED:
“Know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in JESUS CHRIST. So we, too, have put our faith in CHRIST JESUS
that we may be justified by faith in CHRIST and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified.” (Gal:2:16)
I AM SANCTIFIED:
“For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.” (John:17:19)
I AM A NEW CREATION:
“Therefore, if anyone is in CHRIST, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come.” (2Corinthians:5:7)
I AM FREE:
“Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.” (John:8:36)
Blessings
Alex.
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Wed, Sep 3rd - 11:59AM
IS HE LIKE JOE?
Joe was a drunk who was miraculously converted at a small mission. Prior to his conversion, he had gained the reputation of being a dirty wino
for whom there was no hope, only a miserable existence in the getto.
But following his conversion to a new life with GOD, everything had changed. Joe became the most caring person that anyone associated with the mission had ever known.
Joe spent his days and nights hanging out at the mission, doing whatever needed to be done.
There was never anything that he was asked to do that he consided beneath him.
Whether it was cleaning up the vomit left by some violent sick alcoholic or scrubbing toilets after careless men had left the men's room filthy,
Joe did what was asked with a smile on his face and a seeming gratitude for the chance to help.
He could be counted on to feed feeble men who wandered off the street and into the mission, and to undress and tuck into bed men who were too out of it to take care of themselves.
One evening, when the director of the mission was delivering his evening evangelistic message to the usual crowd of still and sullen men with drooped heads,
there was one man who looked up, came down the aisle to the altar, and knelt to pray, crying out for GOD to help him to change.
The repentant drunk kept shouting, "Oh GOD! Make me like Joe! Make me like Joe! Make me like Joe!.
The director of the mission leaned over and said to the man, Son, I think it would be better if you prayed, 'Make me like JESUS'.
The man looked up at the director with a quizzical expression on his face and asked, "Is he like Joe?".
Blessings
ALex
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Sat, Aug 30th - 7:37AM
MOODY AND THE FILLING OF THE SPIRIT:
One of the great preachers in U.S. history is D.L. Moody. He pastored in Chicago and there is still a wonderful Bible College there that bears his name and values.
Mr Moody was a successful minister, but by his own admission, he lacked the power in his ministry. One day two women came up to him after a service.
They said, “We have been praying for you.”
“Why don’t you pray for the people?” he asked,
“Because you need the power of the Spirit,” they said
“I need the power! Why? said Mr Moody,
In relating the incident years after, he writes, “I thought I had power. I had the largest congregation in Chicago, and there were many conversions.”
Moody also said that in a sense, he was satisfied. He was in a comfort zone. But these two praying women rocked the boat.
They told him that they were praying for an anointing by the Holy Spirit. Mr Moody could not get this off his mind and he wrote,
“There came a great hunger in my soul. I did not know what it was and I began to cry out to GOD as never before.
I felt I did not want to live if I could not have this power fro service.”
Rev. Moody began crying out for GOD to fill him. He withdrew, prayed, and sought it over a period of time. He writes the following:
“Well, one day, in the city of New York–oh, what a day!–I cannot describe it, I seldom refer to it; it is almost too sacred an experience to name.
Paul had an experience of which he never spoke for fourteen years. I can only say that GOD revealed Himself to me,
and I had such an experience of His love that I had to ask Him to stay His hand.
I went to preaching again. The sermons were not different; I did not present any new truths, and yet hundreds were converted.
I would not now be placed back where I was before that blessed experience if you should give me the world.”
Blessings
Alex
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Name: ALEX TITLEY
