Gospel In A Shoebox

Pleasant Hill Baptist Church of Quitman MS

Pastor Michael DePhillips

www.forministry.com/39355PHBC

Gospel in a shoe box

Ruth 4:7-10 Now this was the manner in former time in Israel concerning redeeming and concerning changing, for to confirm all things; a man plucked off his shoe, and gave it to his neighbour: and this was a testimony in Israel. [8] Therefore the kinsman said unto Boaz, Buy it for thee. So he drew off his shoe. [9] And Boaz said unto the elders, and unto all the people, Ye are witnesses this day, that I have bought all that was Elimelech’s, and all that was Chilion’s and Mahlon’s, of the hand of Naomi. [10] Moreover Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Mahlon, have I purchased to be my wife, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance, that the name of the dead be not cut off from among his brethren, and from the gate of his place: ye are witnesses this day.

One of the things that I had to learn early in my life as a police officer was to pay attention to the shoes that I chose to wear to work. At first I had chosen to buy a pair of shark skin trooper boots that I still wear on occasion but quickly realized that they didn’t really serve my purpose. I had been on the job for about two days for the criminal sheriff in New Orleans when we had to take out a combative prisoner in a maximum security part of the prison. This prisoner was a lifer who knew the ropes and when he realized we were coming to take him out physically, he began to scoop out water from the toilet in his cell onto the floor. His purpose was to put us at a disadvantage but hope springs eternal in the eyes of a rookie. Learned a hard lesson that day! A man wearing cowboy boots on a wet tile floor is at the mercy of gravity because the soles slip out from under you."

Not long after I went to work for the Hammond Police Department, I had the opportunity to go into the housing projects to help detain a mental patient that needed to be evaluated. This guy was so big he looked like he could whip a bear with a switch! Having learned my lesson some months earlier the hard way, when he poured water on his tile floor to put us at his mercy I was prepared. The day after the incident with the inmate in New Orleans I had bought a pair of jungle combat boots from the armory. I didn’t slip that day and nobody got hurt but the men who went into that apartment with me went to school on the law of gravity.

(1) Experience is a merciless teacher who teaches her lesson plan without regard to the circum-

stances or conditions of her students. Just as experience taught me a valuable lesson in a difficult situation, the decision remained my own to apply the lesson she taught.

I believe that we can look at the experiences of lost policeman and find valuable truth to apply to our personal walk with the Lord Jesus Christ. Want to share with you today "The Gospel in a shoe box" and look at the five pieces of footwear that modern Christians are wearing. WHAT KIND OF SHOES ARE YOU WEARING? The Apostle Paul said that we were to have our feet shod in the gospel of peace but the place that he chose to tell us in Ephesians 6 is a lesson on spiritual warfare preparation for meeting a powerful enemy. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers and rulers of darkness that want to destroy us with every beat of their wicked hearts. Believe in my heart that this message is a divine moment for God to speak to and rebuke those who are wearing anything other than the proper footwear.

FIRST PAIR OF SHOES IS A SNEAKER! We spend so much of our life thinking that we can hide from our responsibility but nothing is hidden from the eyes of God. God is omnipresent which means that he is everywhere! There is no place that we can go that God isn’t already there before we get there! The person who wears this shoe thinks that they can sneak their way around the true issues of sin in their life and wrongly believe that God must make some exceptions for the failures in their life. The Word of God teaches that we must be faithful to confess our sins according to 1 John 1:9 and then and only then will God forgive us of the sins he already knew about. YOU CAN’T TIPTOE AROUND SIN!