Saturday, October 31, 2015

DON’T TUNE OUT THE HOLY SPIRIT


A park ranger at Yellowstone National Park was leading a group of hikers to a fire lookout.

The ranger was so intent on telling the hikers about the flowers and animals that he considered the messages on his two-way radio distracting, so he switched it off.

As the group neared the tower, the ranger was met by a nearly breathless lookout, who asked why he hadn’t responded to the messages on his radio.

A grizzly bear had been seen stalking the group, and the authorities were trying to warn them of the danger.

Any time we tune out the Holy Spirit or ignore the warnings of the Bible, we put ourselves and those around us in danger.

- Craig Brian Larson (ministry127.com)

Isa 30:21 (GNB): If you wander off the road to the right or the left, you will hear his voice behind you saying, "Here is the road. Follow it."

"When God speaks, oftentimes His voice will call for an act of courage on our part." - Charles Stanley.

PROUD STATEMENTS


Tancredo Neves ran for the presidency of Brazil in the 1980s.

He boldly declared that if he got 500,000 votes from his own party, not even God could keep him from being president.

He won the election, but one day later he got sick and died.

There is no way to know if God accepted his challenge, but what we can know for sure is that human beings should not make such arrogant statements.

(ministry127.com)                          

Jas 4:13-15 (NET): Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into this or that town and spend a year there and do business and make a profit." Whereas you don’t know what your life will be like tomorrow....
For you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will both live, and do this or that.”


"Be not proud of race, face, place or grace." - Charles Spurgeon.

SOWING & REAPING


A $100 bill, a $20 bill, and a $1 bill met up with each other at the shredder at the end of their natural lives.

The $100 said, “Well, I’ve had a good life. I’ve seen the whole world. I’ve been on cruises in Caribbean, safaris in Africa, and vacations in Europe.”

The $20 said, “Well, I’ve not done quite as well, but I have been to Atlantic City, Disneyland, and Starbucks.”

They both turned to $1 bill and asked, “How about you?”

He said, “Oh, I’ve seen the whole nation from coast to coast. I’ve been from church to church to church...”

The $100 bill asked, “What’s a church?”

- Robert Morgan (preceptaustin.org)

2Co 9:6 (ISV): "Remember this: The person who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the person who sows generously will also reap generously."


"I do not believe one can settle how much we ought to give. I am afraid the only safe rule is to give more than we can spare." - C S Lewis.


THE TRUTH


The late Dr. A. T. Pierson told the following story of General Robert E. Lee.

Hearing General Lee speak in the highest terms to President Davis about a certain officer, another officer, greatly astonished, said to him.

"General, do you not know that the man of whom you spoke so highly to the President is one of your bitterest enemies, and misses no opportunity to malign you?"

"Yes," replied General Lee, "but the President asked my opinion of him, and I gave him a true answer, he did not ask his opinion of me."

Zec 8:16 (NET): "These are the things you must do: Speak the truth, each of you, to one another...."


"We are either in the process of resisting God's truth or in the process of being shaped and moulded by His truth." - Charles Stanley.

What about you?

Monday, October 26, 2015

THE RESTORATION


In the laboratory of the great chemist Faraday a workman accidentally dropped a very valuable silver cup into a tank of strong acid.

He & the other workmen stood over the tank mournfully watching the quick disintegration of the cup.

But Faraday, seeing what had happened, poured a chemical into the tank.

The silver was precipitated to the bottom & recovered & the shapeless mass was sent off again to the silversmith to be refashioned into its former likeness.

So the grace of repentance & of faith can recover what has been lost & restore it to its former usefulness & beauty.

(moreillustrations.com)

Psa 23:3: "He restores my soul..."

"When God forgives, He at once restores." -Theodore Epp.

"MY JESUS, AS THOU WILT"


The hymn, "My Jesus, as Thou Wilt" was written by Benjamin Schmolke, and is based on Mark 14:36.

We can hear its heart-throbs in every line. Schmolke's home town was nearly destroyed by fire. Two of his own children were taken by flames. Later he himself was stricken with paralysis which eventually led to blindness.
Yet he could sing his "Hymn of Trust":

"My Jesus, as Thou wilt! 
Oh may Thy will be mine! 
Into Thy hand of love 
I would my all resign.

Through sorrow or through joy, 
Conduct me as Thine own, 
And help me still to say, 
"My Lord, Thy will be done."

-Ivan H. Hagedorn. Sunday School Times. (moreillustrations.com)

Job said: "I was born with nothing, and I will die with nothing. The Lord gave, and now he has taken away. May his name be praised!"


Inspite of everything that had happened, Job did not sin by blaming God. (Job 1:21 & 22 GNB)

PERSONAL ACCOUNTABILITY


Daniel Webster, the great statesman of other years, was once asked, "Mr. Webster, what is the most sobering, searching thought that ever entered your mind?"

Without hesitancy, the staunch statesman replied, "My personal accountability to God!"

- (moreillustrations.com)     

Rom 14:12(ASV): "So then each one of us shall give account of himself to God."


"Once we know the Word of God, we have a responsibility to be obedient to it." - Joyce Meyer.

HE LOVES YOU TOO MUCH


An atheist, blaspheming in a certain market-place, challenged God to show His power by striking him dead within 5 minutes.

The 5 minutes elapsed & following the tense delay, the man spoke to his audience, saying, "What did I tell you?"
An old lady standing by said, "Sir, have you any children?"

"Why?"

"Well," said the lady, "If one of your children handed you a knife & said, `Kill me, Daddy,' would you do it?"

"Why, no," replied the astonished man, "I love them too much."

"That is exactly why God did not strike you dead," said the lady, "He loves you too much."

- Moody Monthly. (moreillustrations.com)

Rom 5:8 (NET): "But God demonstrates his own love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

"God loves each one of us as if there were only one of us." - Augustine.

THE GREAT INHERITANCE


In one of Dr. J. Wilbur Chapman's meetings a man rose to give the following remarkable testimony:

"I got off at the Pennsylvania depot one day as a tramp, and for a year I begged on the streets for a living.

One day I touched a man on the shoulder and said, `Mister, please give me a dime.' As soon as I saw his face, I recognized my old father.

`Father, don't you know me?' I asked.

Throwing his arms around me, he cried, `I have found you, I have found you, I have found you; all I have is yours.'

Men, think of it, that I, a tramp, stood begging my father for ten cents, when for eighteen years he had been looking for me, to give me all he was worth."

Such is the love of the heavenly Father for His sinning children.

—Sunday School Chronicle. (moreillustrations.com)


"And now I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you the inheritance among all them that are sanctified." - Paul (Acts 20:32 ASV)

WHOSE FOOL ARE YOU?


A red-hot evangelist, dressed in a morning coat & striped trousers & wearing a topper, walked down a busy street in London one day.

As he approached, people walking in the opposite direction from him read with amusement, smiles & jeers, the words he had had printed in large letters on a card fixed to the ribbon of his hat.

The words were - `A fool for Christ's sake.' When he passed, they turned to have another look at the man they thought to be a religious maniac & could not help seeing the card on the back of his topper which read, `Whose fool are you?'

1Co 3:18 (ISV): "Let no one deceive himself. If any of you thinks he is wise in the ways of this world, he must become a fool to become really wise."


1Co 1:25 (NET): "For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength."

Saturday, October 24, 2015

FORGIVENESS


During one of the persecutions of the Armenians by the Turks, an American girl and her brother were pursued by a blood-thirsty Turkish soldier.

He trapped them at the end of a lane and killed the brother before the sister's eyes. The sister managed to escape by leaping over the wall and fleeing into the country. Later she became a nurse.

One day a wounded soldier was brought into her hospital. She recognized him at once as the soldier who had killed her brother and had tried to kill her.

His condition was such that the least neglect or carelessness on the part of the nurse would have cost him his life. But she gave him the most painstaking and constant care.

One day when he was on the road to recovery he recognized her as the girl whose brother he had slain. He said to her, "Why have you done this for me who killed your brother?"

She answered, "Because I have a religion which teaches me to forgive my enemies."

(moreillustrations.com)

Jesus said: "You have heard that it was said, “An eye for an eye, and tooth for a tooth.’ But now I tell you: do not take revenge on someone who wrongs you. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, let him slap on your left cheek too.” (Matt 5:38 & 39 GNB)

Sunday, October 18, 2015

SPECK AND THE LOG


A young couple moved into a new neighborhood. The next morning while they are eating breakfast, the young woman saw her neighbor hanging her wash to dry.

“That laundry is not very clean,” she said. “She doesn’t know how to wash correctly. Perhaps she needs better laundry soap.”

Her husband looked on, but remained silent. Every time her neighbor hung her wash to dry, the young woman repeated her observations about the dirty laundry.

About one month later, the woman was surprised to see a nice clean wash on the line & said to her husband: “Look, she has learned how to wash correctly. I wonder who taught her this.”

The husband said, “I got up early this morning & cleaned our windows.”

(ministry127.com)


Mat 7:3 & 5 (NLT): "And why worry about a speck in your friend's eye when you have a log in your own? Hypocrite! First get rid of the log from your own eye; then perhaps you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend's eye."

Saturday, October 17, 2015

DANGER IN DELAY


An Indian native told a missionary that he believed on Jesus Christ and meant to give Him his love some day.

A native helper turned and said: "If you and I were walking through the jungles and came face to face with a tiger, if I placed myself in front, and said, `Run, brother, for your life!' would you love me?"

"Yes, surely!"

"When? Some day?"

The native saw the point and said: "I will give myself to Him now, and you must baptize me tomorrow."

- Presbyterian Syndicated Calendar. (moreillustrations.com)

"Those people who expect salvation at the eleventh hour often die at 10:30." (A common saying)

2Co 6:2 (ISV) : For God says, “At the right time I heard you, and on a day of salvation I helped you.” Listen, now is really the “right time”! Now is the “day of salvation”!

Friday, October 16, 2015

TWICE HIS


A little boy carried his new boat to the river. He placed it in the water & let out the string. All at once a strong current caught the boat. He tried to pull it back to shore, but the string broke & the little boat raced downstream.

The little boy searched for the boat until night fell & he went home with a heavy heart.

A few days later he saw his boat in a store window. He spoke to the store manager:"Sir, that’s my boat in your window! I made it!"

“Sorry, son, but someone else brought it in this morning. If you want it, you’ll have to buy it for one dollar.”

The boy used all of his savings & bought his boat back. As he left the store, he hugged his boat & said, 

“Now you’re twice mine. First, I made you & now I bought you.”

Jesus has two claims on the life of the Christian. First He made you, and then He bought you back.

- Richard Alan Streett (ministry127.com)

Gen 1:27 (BBE): "And God made man in his image, in the image of God he made him: male and female he made them."

1Pe 1:18-19 (WEB): "Knowing that you were redeemed, not with corruptible things, with silver or gold, from the useless way of life handed down from your fathers, but with precious blood, as of a faultless and pure lamb, the blood of Christ."

Thursday, October 15, 2015

MAKE YOUR PLANS LARGE


On December 22, 1899, the evangelist D. L. Moody lay dying. His first job had been as a shoe clerk in Boston, gathering 18 ragged boys off the street to organize a Sunday school class.

In two years the class had grown to 1500. In his lifetime Moody was to take two continents in his hands & shake them for God.

As he died, he left this epitaph written on the flyleaf of his Bible, “If God be your partner, make your plans large.”

- A F Schauffler (ministry127.com)   

Eph 3:20 (GW): "Glory belongs to God, whose power is at work in us. By this power he can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine."

"When God gives us a plan, He will only give us the best plans that lead to the greatest glory for Him."  - Michael Youssef.

Wednesday, October 14, 2015

ACCESS TO GOD


Years ago on the stone coping that ran around the White House sat an old man. Threadbare clothes covered with dust made him a marked figure & tears were on his face.

A little boy rolling a hoop stopped & asked what the matter was. The bent form lifted & the sad tale was poured out to the child. His son in the Army of the Potomac had been arrested for desertion & condemned. The guards had not permitted the man to pass to President Lincoln.

"I can take you to the President," said the boy.

"You?"

"Yes, he is my father. He lets me come in any time."

Thus it was the old man found the way to Lincoln & thus gained pardon for his son.

Thus it is that through Jesus Christ, the Son, we have access to God the Father.

(moreillustrations.com)

John 3:17 (GW): "God sent his Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but to save the world."
           
John 20:31 (CEV): "But these are written so that you will put your faith in Jesus as the Messiah and the Son of God. If you have faith in him, you will have true life."

Sunday, October 11, 2015

HE GOT A HUT


The story is told that a man died and went to Heaven. He was met at the pearly gates by the apostle Peter who led him down the golden streets. They went past mansions after beautiful mansions until they came to the end of the street where they stopped in front of a hut.

The man asked Peter why he got a hut when there were so many mansions he could live in. Peter replied, “I did the best I could with the money you sent us.”

- (ministry127.com)

Mat 6:19-20 (GNB): "Do not store up riches for yourselves here on earth, where moths and rust destroy, and robbers break in and steal. Instead, store up riches for yourselves in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and robbers cannot break in and steal."

"There is nothing wrong with men possessing riches. The wrong comes when riches possess men."  - Billy Graham.

Friday, October 9, 2015

No One Else Pled for His Salvation


A pastor was passing a big department store & followed a sudden impulse to go in & talk to the proprietor on the subject of his salvation.

Finding him, he said: “I’ve talked beds & carpets & bookcases with you, but I’ve never talked my business with you. Would you give me a few minutes to do so?”

Being led to the private office, the minister took out his New Testament & showed him passage after passage which brought before that business man his need to accept Jesus Christ.

Finally the tears began to roll down his cheeks & he said to the pastor:

“I’m 75 yrs of age. I was born in this city & more than a 100 ministers & more than 500 church officers have known me as you have, to do business with, but in all these years you are the only man who ever spoke to me about my soul.”

Source: The Ministers Manual, Volume 29, G. B. F. Hallock (ministry127.com)

John 1:12 (ESV) "But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God."

"I am not the author of the plan of salvation, but I am responsible for the way I preach it." - Billy Sunday

GRASPING A SHADOW?


Henry Martyn, a Cambridge University student, was honored at only 20 years of age for his achievements in mathematics. In fact, he was given the highest recognition possible in that field.

And yet he felt emptiness inside. He said that instead of finding fulfillment in his achievements, he had, “Only grasped a shadow.”

After evaluating his life’s goals, Martyn sailed to India as a missionary at the age of 24. When he arrived, he prayed, “Lord, let me burn out for You.”

In the next 7 years that preceded his death, he translated the New Testament into three difficult Eastern languages: Urdu, Persian and Judaeo-Persic. Also, translated the Psalms into Persian.

He died from fever at Tokat, Turkey at the age of 31 yrs.

-  J. Oswald Sanders (ministry127.com)

John 4:34 (ISV): Jesus told them, "My food is doing the will of the one who sent me and completing his work."

"The mere fact itself that God's will is irresistible and irreversible fills me with fear, but once I realize that God wills only that which is good, my heart is made to rejoice."  - A.W. Pink.

Thursday, October 8, 2015

PRAYER PLUS


It is recorded of D. L. Moody that, upon one of his journeys across the Atlantic there was a fire in the hold of the ship.

The crew & some volunteers stood in line to pass buckets of water. A friend said to Moody, "Mr. Moody, let us go to the other end of the ship & engage in prayer."

The common-sense evangelist replied, "Not so, sir; we stand right here & pass buckets & pray hard all the time."

How like Moody this was! He believed that prayer & work were the two hands of the one person; that they should never be separated.

- Christian Herald (London)  (moreillustrations.com)

Jas 2:26 (KJV): "For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also."

"The bitterest tears shed over graves are for words left unsaid and deeds left undone."  - H B Stowe.

Wednesday, October 7, 2015

WHAT IS THAT TO THEE?


Peter was told by the Lord to follow Him. Instead of responding, "Lord, by Thy grace I will," he seems to have been occupied with his fellow-disciple John. "Lord, and what shall this man do?" he inquired.

Answering him our Lord said, "What is that to thee?" And He added, making it more definitely personal, "Follow thou Me."  (John 21:22)

Let us not look upon others when we should be looking on our Lord. Whatever the other man may be called to do, and whether he does it or not is not our business (though we should seek to help others by example and precept).

Our business is to follow our Lord for ourselves.

- Scattered Seed. (moreillustrations.com)

" .... work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." - Paul (Phi 2:12)

Monday, October 5, 2015

BE WILLING TO MAKE A ROAD


David Livingstone, pioneer missionary to Africa, received a letter saying, “Have you found a good road to where you are? If so, we want to know is how to send other men to join you.”

Livingstone replied, “If you have men who will come only if there is a good road, I do not want them. I want those who will come if there is no road at all.”

-  Roy B. Zuck (ministry127.com)

"A test of a Christian's character is what he does after he comes to the blockade in the road and what his attitude is after everything has left him except Jesus."  - Lester Roloff.

Jesus said: "Those who do not carry their own cross and come after me cannot be my disciples." (Luke 14:27 GNB)

Sunday, October 4, 2015

AN AMBITIOUS ATTORNEY


A young attorney started his first practice. He was ambitious and excited about how great his firm would soon be.

His phones had not yet been hooked up, but he quickly picked up the phone when he heard footsteps toward his office.

Looking as dignified as possible, the new attorney said, “Yes, this is Attorney Jones. I need to do depositions tomorrow.” Then a man walked into his office.

“Can I help you?” asked the young attorney.

“Yes, I’m here to turn on your phone service.”

- (ministry127.com)

Luke 14:11 (GNB): "For those who make themselves great will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be made great."

"A humble person is more likely to be self confident... a person with real humility knows how much they are loved."  - Cornelius Plantinga.

Friday, October 2, 2015

HER CASE SEEMED HOPELESS


Ask God for deliverance when danger is near.

In the flood at Pueblo, Colorado, a few years ago, a woman was trapped in an overturned railroad car. Unable to get out & the water rising until it was up to her neck & holding a child in her arms, her case seemed hopeless.

The frightened child said, "Mother, what shall we do?"

Mother said, "Pray, dear."

While Mother cried unto God in her heart, the child prayed, "Jesus, I trust You; Jesus, I trust You." She said this many times.

From that moment the waters began to recede.

- Gospel Herald (moreillustrations.com)

Psalms 50:15 (CEV): "Pray to me in time of trouble. I will rescue you, and you will honor me."

"Prayer is the link that connects us with God."  -  A.B. Simpson.

Thursday, October 1, 2015

MULLER IN THE FOG


Charles Inglis, the well-known evangelist, tells the following story of George Muller & it is worthy of a place under the heading of `Answered Prayers'.

When I first came to America, 31 yrs ago, I crossed the Atlantic with the Captain of a steamer who was one of the most devoted men I ever knew & when we were off the banks of Newfoundland he said to me:

`Mr. Inglis, the last time I crossed here, 5 weeks ago, one of the most extraordinary things happened that has completely revolutionized the whole of my Christian life.

Up to that time I was one of your ordinary Christians. We had a man of God on board, George Muller of Bristol. I had been on that bridge for 22 hrs & never left it. I was startled by someone tapping me on the shoulder. It was George Muller.

"Captain," he said, "I have come to tell you that I must be in Quebec on Saturday afternoon." (This was Wednesday).

'It is impossible,' I said. `Very well if your ship can't take me but I have never broken an engagement in 50 yrs.'

'I would willingly help you. How can I? I am helpless,' said the Captain.

`Let us go down to the chart room & pray,' said George Muller.

I looked at the man of God & I thought to myself, what lunatic asylum could the man have come from? I never heard of such a thing.

`Mr. Muller,' I said, `do you know how dense the fog is?'

`No,' he replied, 'my eye is not on the density of the fog, but on the living God Who controls every circumstance of my life.'

He got down on his knees & prayed one of the simplest prayers. I muttered to myself, 'That would suit a children's class where the children were not more than 8 yrs old.'

The burden of his prayer was something like this: 'O Lord, if it is consistent with Thy will, please remove this fog in 5 min. Thou knowest the engagement Thou didst make for me in Quebec for Saturday. I believe it is Thy will.'

When he finished I was going to pray, but he put his hand on my shoulder & told me not to pray. 'First, you do not believe He will; second, I believe He has & there is no need to pray.'
And, as George Muller said, the fog had lifted.

- (moreillustrations.com)

Jesus said: "If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you." (John 15:7 KJV)