LifeChurch

There is a story told of Lady Godiva who took pity on the people of Coventry, who were suffering grievously under her husband’s oppressive taxation.  Lady Godiva appealed again and again to her husband, who stubbornly refused to show grace.  At last, getting tired of her pleading, he said he would grant her request if she would strip naked and ride through the streets of the town.

Lady Godiva took him at his word and, after issuing a proclamation that all persons should stay indoors and shut their windows, she rode through the town, clothed only in her long hair.  In the end, Godiva’s husband kept his word and abolished the burdensome taxes.

What a wonderful story of compassion and sacrifice!  I wonder if I would be able to do that.  I know of a person who did more than that, Jesus Christ “who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing… he humbled himself and became obedient to death – even death on a cross!” (Phil. 2:6,8).

What a compassionate and loving God we have.  He gave himself so that we may have life and this is available to anyone who receive Him (John 1:12).  Perhaps, you will think about His loving grace whenever you eat Godiva chocolate.  ^_^

Have a wonderful week!

Moody’s Press had a story on a man named John Harper.  John Harper was born to a pair of solid Christian parents on May 29th, 1872.  It was on the last Sunday of March 1886, when he was thirteen years old that he received Jesus as the Lord of his life. He never knew what it was to “sow his wild oats.”  He began to preach about four years later at the ripe old age of 17 years by going down to the streets of his village and pouring out his soul in earnest entreaty for men to be reconciled to God.  Later in twenties, Harper was taken in by Rev. E. A. Carter of Baptist Pioneer Mission in London, England and he helped Harper free to devote his whole time of energy to the work so dear to his heart.  Soon he became a pastor (now known as Harper Memorial Church).

On the night of April 14, 1912 at 11:40 p.m., the unsinkable Titanic scraped an iceberg which caused the ship to go down.  On board were many wealthy people, John Harper and his six-year-old daughter Nana.

According to documented reports, as soon as John Harper knew that the ship was going to sink, he immediately took his daughter to a lifeboat.  Though it is reasonable to assume that this widowed preacher could have easily gotten on board to safety; however, it never seems to have crossed his mind.  He bent down and kissed his precious daughter; looking into her eyes he told her that she would see him again someday.  With that goodbye, John Harper turned and headed towards the crowd of desperate lives on the sinking ocean liner.  As the rear of the huge ship began to lurch upwards, it was reported that Harper was seen making his way up the deck yelling “Women, children and unsaved into the lifeboats!”

That night 1528 people went into the frigid waters.  John Harper was seen swimming frantically to people in the water leading them to Jesus before the hypothermia became fatal.  John Harper swam up to one young man who had climbed up on a piece of debris.  John Harper asked him between breaths, “Are you saved?”  The young man replied that he was not.

Harper then tried to lead him to Christ only to have the young man who was near shock, reply no.  John Harper then took off his life jacket and threw it to the man and said “Here then, you need this more than I do…” and swam away to other people.  A few minutes later Harper swam back to the young man and succeeded in leading him to salvation.  Of the 1528 people that went into the water that night, six were rescued by the lifeboats.  One of them was this young man on the debris.

Four years later, at a survivors meeting, this young man stood up and in tears recounted how John Harper had led him to Christ.  His last words before going under in the frigid waters were “Believe on the Name of the Lord Jesus and you will be saved.”

Does Hollywood remember this man and capture his sacrificial act in Titanic movie?  No.  While other people were trying to buy their way onto the lifeboats and selfishly trying to save their own lives, John Harper gave up his life so that others could be saved.

Jesus said, “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends” (NIV-John 15:13) and John Harper showed that love… like Jesus!  Let’s love the people who are in need of Christ.  Yell FORE (this is for Life Church people)!

There was a teenage boy who lost a contact lens while playing basketball in his driveway. After a fruitless search, he told his mother the lens was nowhere to be found.  Undaunted, she went outside and in a few minutes returned with the eyepiece in her hand.

“How did you manage to find it, Mom?” the teenager asked.

“We weren’t looking for the same thing,” she replied.  “You were looking for a small piece of plastic.  I was looking for $150.”

What we look for and see in life is largely determined by our values.  If suffering people don’t have any value to us, we will largely ignore them and not do anything to help them. Furthermore, if I don’t see people the way God sees them—lost sinners in need of a Savior and of such infinite value to God that he gave his Son, Jesus, to come to earth and die on a cross to pay the penalty for all our sins—I won’t do anything to help them come to know Jesus.  What we value is what we seek after and find.

Life Church people… yell FORE (if you know what I mean)!

Have a wonderful week!

A little girl walked to and from school daily.  Though the weather that morning was questionable and clouds were forming, she made her daily trek to the elementary school. As the afternoon progressed, the winds whipped up, along with thunder and lightning.  The mother of the little girl felt concerned that her daughter would be frightened as she walked home from school and she herself feared that the electrical storm might harm her child.

Following the roar of thunder, lightning, like a flaming sword, would cut through the sky. Full of concern, the mother quickly got into her car and drove along the route to her child’s school.  As she did so, she saw her little girl walking along, but at each flash of lightning, the child would stop, look up and smile.  Another and another were to follow quickly and with each the little girl would look at the streak of light and smile.

When the mother’s car drove up beside the child she lowered the window and called to her, “What are you doing?  Why do you keep stopping?”

The child answered, “I am trying to look pretty, God keeps taking my picture.”

May God bless you today as you face the storms that come your way.  And don’t forget to SMILE then.

As many of you have heard, again, there’s a great deal of Internet research and revisionist thinking going on about these characters in the Christmas story.  Some of have suggested that things would have been considerably different if it had been ‘Wise Women’ instead of ‘Wise Men.”  If they were “Wise Women” instead of “Wise Men,” they would have asked directions, arrived on time, helped deliver the baby, cleaned the stable, made a casserole, and brought practical gifts from Baby’s-R-Us, including diapers, wipes, bibs and formula.  But that’s an entirely different story…   : )

Here is something to think about.  The legend is told of the time Satan and his demons were having a Christmas party.  As the demonic guests were preparing to depart, one grinned and said, “Merry Christmas, your majesty!”  At that, Satan replied with a growl, “Keep it merry my friend.  If they ever get serious about it, we’ll all be in trouble.”

True!  We need to celebrate and be filled with gratefulness during this Christmas, but as the Satan said, just being merry only a part of the real meaning of Christmas.  In order for the birth to take place, prophets preached for years, the Virgin Mary got pregnant, Mary & Joseph traveled while pregnant, and the Son of God emptied Himself.  Some times we should exchange our greeting of “Merry Christmas” to “Serious Christmas.”  Just a thought!  Wishing you Merry and Serious Christmas!!!

On the beautiful island of Bermuda there is a rock hanging on a rope with a large sign beside it which says, “Weather Station: Check the Rock.  If it’s wet, it’s raining.  If it’s moving, it’s windy.  If you can’t see it, it’s foggy.  If the rock is gone, it’s a hurricane.”

In fact, you see this kind of sign all over as a humor but don’t you just love it?  At least it’s very reliable!

I wonder if we are ignoring obvious things like this as we are dealing with God.  Instead of “looking out the window” (Bible) where the answer is staring us in the face, we want a special sign from him!  A brother pointed out that Elijah was moved with the gentle voice of God than thunder, lightening, fire, or an earthquake.  We should, too.

In this Christmas season, let’s recognize the obvious.  Christmas is about Christ and everything surrounding this holiday point to Him; lights, festivities, stars, trees, candy canes, nativity scenes, songs, and gifts.  We can’t even spell “Christmas” without “Christ”!

All the evidence was staring the Jews in the face and still they refused to accept Jesus as their promised Messiah—because he didn’t arrive the way they wanted or expected!

I hope we don’t make the same mistake.  Have a wonderful Christmas everyone!

Professor: You are a Christian, aren’t you, son?

Student: Yes, sir.

Professor: So, you believe in GOD?

Student: Absolutely, sir.

Professor: Is GOD good ?

Student: Sure.

Professor: Is GOD all powerful?

Student: Yes.

Professor: My brother died of cancer even though he prayed to GOD to heal him. Most of us would attempt to help others who are ill. But GOD didn’t. How is this GOD good then?  Hmm?

(Student was silent.)

Professor: You can’t answer, can you ? Let’s start again, young fella. Is GOD good?

Student: Yes.

Professor: Is satan good?

Student : No.

Professor: Where does satan come from?

Student: From … GOD …

Professor: That’s right. Tell me son, is there evil in this world?

Student: Yes.

Professor: Evil is everywhere, isn’t it ? And GOD did make everything. Correct?

Student: Yes.

Professor: So who created evil?

(Student did not answer.)

Professor: Is there sickness?  Immorality?  Hatred?  Ugliness?  All these terrible things exist in the world, don’t they?

Student: Yes, sir.

Professor: So, who created them?

(Student had no answer.)

Professor: Science says you have 5 Senses you use to identify and observe the world around you. Tell me, son, have you ever seen GOD?

Student: No, sir.

Professor: Tell us if you have ever heard your GOD?

Student: No, sir.

Professor: Have you ever felt your GOD, tasted your GOD, smelt your GOD?  Have you ever had any sensory perception of GOD for that matter?

Student: No, sir. I’m afraid I haven’t.

Professor: Yet you still believe in Him?

Student: Yes.

Professor: According to Empirical, Testable, Demonstrable Protocol, Science says your GOD doesn’t exist. What do you say to that, son?

Student: Nothing. I only have my faith.

Professor: Yes, faith.  And that is the problem Science has.

Student: Professor, is there such a thing as heat?

Professor: Yes.

Student: And is there such a thing as cold?

Professor: Yes.

Student: No, sir. There isn’t.

(The lecture theater became very quiet with this turn of events.)

Student: Sir, you can have lots of heat, even more heat, superheat, mega heat, white heat, a little heat or no heat. But we don’t have anything called cold. We can hit 458 degrees below zero which is no heat, but we can’t go any further after that. There is no such thing as cold. Cold is only a word we use to describe the absence of heat. We cannot measure cold. Heat is energy. Cold is not the opposite of heat, sir, just the absence of it.

(There was pin-drop silence in the lecture theater.)

Student: What about darkness, Professor? Is there such a thing as darkness?

Professor: Yes. What is night if there isn’t darkness?

Student: You’re wrong again, sir. Darkness is the absence of something. You can have low light, normal light, bright light, flashing light. But if you have no light constantly, you have nothing and its called darkness, isn’t it? In reality, darkness isn’t. If it is, well you would be able to make darkness darker, wouldn’t you?

Professor: So what is the point you are making, young man ?

Student: Sir, my point is your philosophical premise is flawed.

Professor: Flawed?  Can you explain how?

Student: Sir, you are working on the premise of duality.  You argue there is life and then there is death, a good GOD and a bad GOD.  You are viewing the concept of GOD as something finite, something we can measure. Sir, Science can’t even explain a thought.  It uses electricity and magnetism, but has never seen, much less fully understood either one.  To view death as the opposite of life is to be ignorant of the fact that death cannot exist as a substantive thing.   Death is not the opposite of life: just the absence of it.  Now tell me, Professor, do you teach your students that they evolved from a monkey?

Professor: If you are referring to the natural evolutionary process, yes, of course, I do.

Student: Have you ever observed evolution with your own eyes, sir?

(The Professor shook his head with a smile, beginning to realize where the argument was going.)

Student: Since no one has ever observed the process of evolution at work and cannot even prove that this process is an on-going endeavor.  Are you not teaching your opinion, sir?  Are you not a scientist but a preacher?

(The class was in uproar.)

Student: Is there anyone in the class who has ever seen the Professor’s brain?

(The class broke out into laughter.)

Student: Is there anyone here who has ever heard the Professor’s brain, felt it, touched or smelt it?  No one appears to have done so.  So, according to the established Rules of Empirical, Stable, Demonstrable Protocol, Science says that you have no brain, sir.  With all due respect, sir, how do we then trust your lectures, sir?

(The room was silent.  The Professor stared at the student, his face unfathomable.)

Professor: I guess you’ll have to take them on faith, son.

Student: That is it sir… Exactly!  The link between man & GOD is FAITH.  That is all that keeps things alive and moving.

Just because it is a fun and good reading…  ^_^

A sick man turned to his doctor, as he was leaving the room after paying a visit, and said, ”Doctor, I am afraid to die.  Tell me what lies on the other side.”

Very quietly the doctor said, “I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?” the man said.

“You, a Christian man, do not know what is on the other side?”

The doctor was holding the handle of the door, on the other side of which came a sound of scratching and whining.  As he opened the door, a dog sprang into the room and leaped on him with an eager show of gladness.

Turning to the patient, the doctor said, “Did you notice my dog?  He’s never been in this room before.  He didn’t know what was inside.  He knew nothing except that his master was here, and when the door opened, he sprang in without fear.”

“I know little of what is on the other side of death,” the doctor continued, “but I do know one thing: I know my Master is there, and that is enough.  And when the door opens, I shall pass through with no fear, but with gladness.”

That’s what I am waiting for… my Master!   Have a wonderful week!

Busy in his study, a minister was preparing his sermon for the coming Sunday.  He reached to the shelf at his side for a book, and then remembered that he had left it downstairs.

His little daughter was playing in the bedroom, and he called her.  She came, running, eager and delighted at the thought that Papa needed her.  He explained carefully where she could find the book, and she went gladly, returning in a moment with a book which he saw at a glance was the wrong one.

But he hardly looked at the book as he took it and laid it on the table.  He looked only at the eager face of his daughter, wreathed in smiles.  Gathering her close to his heart, he kissed her and said, “Thank You, darling.”

And when she had gone back happy and contented to her play, he went quietly for the book he needed.

I will be honest, more often than not, I don’t act like this minister but will try harder from this point on.  I definitely need God’s grace, wisdom, and patience!

Have a wonderful week and the last month of this year!

A foreigner traveling in Syria became acquainted with a shepherd.  Each morning he noticed the shepherd taking food to a sheep that had a broken leg.  As he looked at the animal, he asked the shepherd, “How did the sheep break its leg?  Did it meet with an accident, fall into a hole, or did some animal break its leg?”

“No,” said the shepherd, “I broke this sheep’s leg myself.”

“You broke it yourself?” asked the puzzled traveler.

“Yes, you see, this is a wayward sheep; it would not stay with the flock, but would lead the sheep astray.  Then it would not let me near it so I had to break the sheep’s leg so that it would allow me, day by day to feed it.  In doing this it will get to know me as its shepherd, trust me as its guide, and keep with the flock.”

Sometimes, just sometimes, when we insist of going our own stubborn way and leading others astray, the Shepherd of the fold, may have to “break our leg” too for our own good and that of others.  That’s the reason why David said, “your rod and your staff, they comfort me” in Psalm 23:4 (NIV).

Have a wonderful weekend with the Shepherd!