A stranger in his middle 70s came in to see me last week. He said he had admired the work our church was doing and asked what we believed. I began to explain our doctrinal position, which sparked him to respond by telling what he believed. He said he was an ordained minister in a Christian Church.
He went on to explain a totally heretical view. He explained that it was never God’s desire for Jesus to be crucified, man did that out of rebellion. The cross as a sacrifice to atone for man’s sins was a concoction of man’s mind, he said. He thought Paul was a Pharisee and all his teachings oppose what Jesus taught. It all came down to one key thing for him: Repentance. He didn’t need a Savior because he was saving himself by his good works.
He told me he had studied the Bible thoroughly and that God at no time ever required a sacrifice. So, I reminded him of the story of the Israelis in bondage in Egypt and how God directed them to all slay a lamb and offer it as a sacrifice, putting the blood of that lamb on the doorposts of their houses. Then the death angel passed over them. John the Baptist said of Jesus: “Behold the Lamb’. He scratched his chin in confusion, and had no rebuttal. His main point had been subverted.
We left on friendly terms and I told him I would be praying for him. We agreed to disagree.
We must know what we believe and why! If he is right, we’re both safe. But if I am right, this man is in big trouble on judgment day. He has no Savior but himself.
Tags: atonement, cross, heresy, sacrifice
Rev. D. F. Ferguson, a senior pastor in Riverside, California, was an excellent preacher with a real understanding of Calvary and of grace. At a district conference of his denomination, a fellow pastor was testifying of how he had left a job as a successful attorney making a six-figure salary to follow the call of the Lord into the ministry.
Following him, another pastor stood and said, “I was making two hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars a year in Kansas grain when I gave it all up to serve the Lord.”
After two more pastors followed this theme of what they had given up to follow Jesus, Ferguson could take no more. He jumped to his feet and ran to the front. He seized the microphone and in broken voice said, “When God called me into the ministry I was standing behind two mules plowin’ a field in Arkansas. It was 105+ degrees and I had on one tennis shoe and one of dad’s boots. I threw down the reins of them two mules and said, ‘God, I’m ready – anything beats this’, and I’ve been in the ministry ever since!”
The conference roared in laughter and came to a standing ovation. God has a unique way of calling each of us. Some sacrifice greatly in following Christ, but for many others, following Christ was nothing but a step up. Which was it for you: a step up or a step down?
Tags: call, sacrifice, testimony
Don’t forget to reset your clocks Sunday morning so you won’t be late for church.
One cold winter night in Epworth, England, the church bell began to ring. People ran ino the dark night and saw that a house was on fire. A crowd gathered and began to fight the fire. Samuel and Susanna had escaped the flames along with six of their children, but no one could find Johnny.
Realizing the worst, Samuel headed back toward the inferno. Town’s people held him back from certain death. The crowd stood there helplessly watching the house burn.
“Look,” someone shouted. A face appeared in an upstairs window. Little Johnny had awakened and come to the window. He could not escape through the house because of the flames.
Then two men came out of the crowd. One climbed upon the shoulders of the other. The flames were intense. Their clothes began to smoke, but the little boy was pulled through the high window by the arms of the living ladder. The little boy saved that night was none other than John Wesley, who shook England with a great revival and founded the Methodist Church. Years later he wrote, “That night I was plucked as a brand from the burning.”
Together let’s build a ladder with our lives to save the little John Wesleys for tomorrow. Paul advised, “Present your bodies as living sacrifices” (Romans 12:1). What’s one way you could do that?
Tags: ., bridge, fire, ladder, rescue, sacrifice, Wesley
One of the great scriptures that teach us the important role of Thanksgiving in the life of a believer is Psalm 107:22, which admonishes us to “Let them sacrifice thank offerings and tell of his works with songs of joy.”
Now, just what does it mean to sacrifice a thank offering? It seems that thanksgiving should be a given, so what is the sacrifice here? I think the truth is that God expects His relationship with His people to be a two-way street. If we are truly thankful for what God has freely given to us, then God expects us to take action that shows we recognize what we have as a gift from Him, and freely pass it on to others. We actually begin to act like Christ would act.
One way to do that is to bring some groceries to stock our Compassion Cupboard tonight as we gather for our Thanksgiving service from 7-8:00 PM. Food traditionally represents God’s blessings in our lives, and to donate food is a way to partner with God in passing those blessings on to someone less blessed than we. Let’s follow the advice of the Psalmist by bringing some non-perishable food items tonight.
By the way, what other ways have you found to sacrifice a thank offering?
Tags: offering, sacrifice, thanksgiving