Sermon Central
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Make It Real
Contributed by Johnny Creasong on Jul 25, 2005 (message contributor)
Summary: With the wave and craze of reality shows, is there really any need to really be real? God wants us to GET REAL with him! Here’s how!
Make It Real!
I love the story about the little girl who went to Sunday School. When she came home with her Sunday School papers, she & her mom were leafing through them & they came to a picture of Jesus. Her mother asked, "Do you know who that is?" She said, "Well, I don’t know his name, but I do know he goes to our church."...
Who goes to our church?
One Saturday afternoon a father and his six-year old son Mickey were fishing near a bridge by the Kokomo Reservoir when a woman lost control of her car, slid off the bridge and hit Mikey at a rate of about 50 mph. Sheriff Marr, the boys grandfather, had seen the results of accidents like this and feared the worst. When he got to Saint Joseph Hospital, he rushed
through the emergency room to find Mikey conscious and in fairly good spirits considering what had happened to him.
"Mikey, what happened?" Sheriff Marr asked. Mikey replied,
"Well, Gramps, I was fishin’ with Dad, and some lady runned me
over, I flew into a mud puddle, and broke my fishin’ pole and I didn’t
get to catch no fish!"
As it turned out, the impact propelled Mikey about 500 feet, over a few trees and an embankment and in the middle of a mud puddle. His only injuries were to his right femur bone which had broken in two places. Mikey had surgery to place pins in his leg. Otherwise the boy is fine. Since all the boy could talk about was that his fishing pole was broken, the Sheriff went out to Wal-mart and bought him a new one while he was in surgery so he could have it when he came out.
The next day the Sheriff sat with Mikey to keep him company in the hospital. Mikey was enjoying his new fishing pole and talked about when he could go fishing again as he cast into the trash
can.
When they were alone, Mikey, just a matter-of-fact, said, "Gramps, did you know Jesus is real?"
"Well," the Sheriff replied, a little startled. "Yes, Jesus is real to all who believe in him and love him in their hearts."
"No," said Mikey. "I mean Jesus is REALLY real."
"What do you mean?" asked the Sheriff. "I know he’s real ’cause I saw him." said
Mikey, still casting into the trash can.
"You did?" said the Sheriff.
"Yep," said Mikey. "When that lady runned me over and broke my fishing
pole, Jesus caught me in his arms and laid me down in the mud puddle."
Is Jesus that ALIVE to you or is He simply an historical figure Whom you respect but to Whom you cannot seem to relate? In this day when television viewers are enamored with “reality” shows that are unreal, always edited, often manipulated, and even scripted, do we recognize Christ as alive, well, and real? Or are those days long gone?
What will it take to “Make it REAL?”
R- relate
“The LORD would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend. Then Moses would return to the camp, but his young aide Joshua son of Nun did not leave the tent.”
(NIV)
The people of God had committed a great sin so Moses pitched the TENT OF MEETING outside the camp. The people would have to go outside their comfort zone in order to meet with God. But when Moses would go out to the TENT OF MEETING, the people would rise up and worship. They watched as the PILLER OF CLOUD, representing the very presence of God, would surround the tent and “the Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend.
If our relationship with God is to be REAL, then God and I must RELATE to each other. There is an old song that says it like this:
“and He walks with me and He talks with me
and He tells me I am His own
and the joy we share as we tarry there,
None other has ever known!”
When was the last time you and God had a FACE TO FACE talk? Maybe it’s been so long because we know that there is something that God is displeased with us about and we are ashamed (or afraid) to come and have a FACE TO FACE? I have some good news for you:
“... the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.”
(NKJ)
Today, you can make your relationship with God REAL by having a good ol’ FACE TO FACE, HEART TO HEART talk with Jesus! Get back to relating to Him in a REAL way!
E-eternity
Making it REAL means that I must keep ETERNITY in view.
