A few years ago, a group of salesmen went to a regional sales convention in Chicago. They had assured their wives that they would be home in plenty of time for Friday night’s dinner. In their rush, with tickets and briefcases, one of these salesmen inadvertently kicked over a table, which held a display of apples. Apples flew everywhere. Without stopping or looking back, they all managed to reach the plane in time for their nearly-missed boarding…ALL BUT ONE!!! He paused, took a deep breath, got in touch with his feelings and experienced a twinge of compassion for the girl whose apple stand had been overturned. He told his buddies to go on without him, waved good-bye, told one of them to call his wife when they arrived at their home destination and explain his taking a later flight. Then he returned to the terminal, where the apples were all over the terminal floor. He was glad he did. The 16 year old girl was totally blind! She was softly crying, tears running down her cheeks in frustration and at the same time, helplessly groping for her spilled produce as the crowd swirled about her; no one stopping and no one to care for her plight. The salesman knelt on the floor with her, gathered up the apples, put them back on the table and helped organize her display. As he did this, he noticed that many of them had become battered and bruised; these he set aside in another basket. When he had finished, he pulled out his wallet and said to the girl, “Here, please take this $40 for the damage we did. Are you ok?” She nodded through her tears. He continued on with, “I hope we didn’t spoil your day too badly.” As the salesman started to walk away, the bewildered blind girl called out to him, “Mister…” He paused and turned to look back into those blind eyes. She continued, “Are you Jesus?” He stopped in mid-stride ….. and he wondered. He gently went back and said, “No, I am nothing like Jesus. He is good, kind, caring, loving and would never have bumped into your display in the first place.” The girl gently nodded: “I only asked, because I prayed for Jesus to help me gather the apples. He sent you to help me, so you are like Him – only He knows who will do His will. Thank you for hearing His call, Mister.” Then slowly he made his way to catch the later flight with that question burning and bouncing about in his soul: “Are you Jesus?” Do people mistake you for Jesus? That’s our destiny, is it not? To be so much like Jesus, that people cannot tell the difference as we live and interact with a world that is blind to His love, life and grace. If we claim to know Him, we should live, walk and act as He would. Knowing Him is more than simply quoting scripture and going to church. It’s actually living the Word as life unfolds day to day. You are the apple of His eye even though you, too, have been bruised by a fall. He stopped what He was doing, went to a hill called Calvary, picked us up and paid in full for our damaged fruit. Sometimes we just take things for granted, when we really need to be sharing what we know. “Being happy doesn’t mean you’ve decided to see beyond the imperfections.” The Pastor’s granddaughter sent this to him and he wanted to share it with you. †
Understanding God’s Love
All of us know John 3:16, “For God so love the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” We know the scripture, but do we understand it? God’s love is beyond anything our small carnal minds can comprehend. His love is unconditional at all times. We parents know and understand our love for our children. When they are well behaved, we love them and would give our life to save their lives. We also have to look at the other side of the story. When our children are disobedient and do bad things, we still love them. We may not like what they are doing, but we would still give our life to save their lives. This is a small portion of God’s love that came into us, when we accepted Christ. You see, God is love and when He enters our body, His love comes with Him. Some preachers preach only the love of God, leaving out God’s anger and wrath, which very important. Now God didn’t create us to beat us and make us bow down to Him. He loves us so much that He wants us to be blessed to the fullest, therefore, He tells us in His Word, that He corrects those He loves. The Bible actually says in Revelation 3:19, “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.” Chastens means, to correct or in my vocabulary, “spank.” He disciplines us, so He can bless us. When we disobey His commands or His will, we lose blessings that we could have had. †
God, Jesus and The Holy Ghost
We know it seems as though we praise God more than Jesus, but our blessings come from God, Jehovah. Jesus tells us, in The Word, that He can speak nothing, but that which the Father tells Him to speak. He also states He can do nothing, but that which the Father does through Him. He clearly tells us not to ask Him anything, but to ask the Father in His name and the Father will give it to us. We know Jesus died, shed His Blood and died for our salvation, but He did it to please His Father. Remember, “Not My will, but Thine be done.” Luke 22:42. We feel too many leave God out of the equation, when He gave it all for us. John 3:16. God gives and Christ saves and makes intersession for us. The Holy Ghost disperses God’s gifts and draws us unto repentance. It takes all three ( The Trinity ), to fulfill God’s plan throughout the Universe. †
Our Offer This Month
This months offer 568-G is a one hour teching CD entitled, “ The Sea of Sin.” Some of you may be fighting battles and it seems as though you’re losing ground. In the Bible, we learn that Jesus always shows up when we’re in a storm. When you received your salvation, you were on the sea of sin. You were blinded by the cares of your flesh and of the world. Jesus came by at the right time, opened your eyes and showed you a new direction. This CD is a must have and we’re offering it for a love gift of $15.00 or more. This CD is hilarious and will make everyone laugh, even though it contains very serious and important information. †
Jesus Is The Answer
