TOP TEN SIGNS YOU MAY NOT BE READING YOUR BIBLE ENOUGH:
10) The Preacher announces the sermon is from Genesis and you have to check the table of contents.
9) You think Abraham, Isaac & Jacob may have had a few hit songs during the 60's.
8) You open to the Gospel of Luke and a WWII Savings Bond falls out.
7) Your favorite Old Testament Patriarch is Hercules.
6) A small family of woodchucks has taken up residence in the Psalms of your Bible.
5) You become frustrated because Charlton Heston isn't listed in either the Concordance or the Table of Contents.
4) Catching the kids reading the Song of Solomon, you demand: "Who gave you this stuff?"
3) You think the Minor Prophets worked in the quarries.
2) You keep falling for it every time when Pastor tells you to turn to First Condominiums.
1) The kids keep asking too many questions about your usual bedtime story: "Jonah, the Shepherd Boy, and His Ark of Many Colors."
Forgiveness leads us from Darkness to light John 9:5-7, 35-39
We find in John 8 that Jesus had proclaimed that He was the “Light of the world.” He also said that He was around before Abraham was born. He said He was equal with God the Father. They picked up stones and were going to kill Him. It says that He walked through the crowd and they were not able to kill Him as they wanted to. The next life story we have is that Jesus came in contact with a man who was born blind. The disciples ask if this man had sinned or was it his parents fault. Jesus says that this man had not sinned to cause his blindness or his parents but that this fact was to bring forth the glory of God. I want you to know that this man was a sinner and needed forgiveness. As I have talked with some people this week I found that they were blind to the truth that Jesus can set them free. I simply told them that I was blind to the fact that I was a sinner but at the age of 17 my life was changed because Jesus forgave me of my sins and I was a child of God. This live testimony did not change the people I was talking with just as like this man telling the religious leaders of that day change, when this man told them he had been changed. We live in a sin darkened world. When Jesus or the Holy Spirit speaks we need to obey and not put off what we need to do. Many are like I was before I met Jesus. I had no clue that I could be forgiven and lived a sinful life with out hope. I pray that God will speak to you today and you will walk in His way. Jesus said this about our lives: 3:19-21 Now this is the basis for judging: that the light has come into the world and people loved the darkness rather than the light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil deeds hates the light and does not come to the light, so that their deeds will not be exposed. But the one who practices the truth comes to the light, so that it may be plainly evident that his deeds have been done in God. What is God speaking to us about today that will help us live as He wants?
1. We first see blindness of the heart.
The blindness we see here in 1-5 was to blame some one as a sin. Let me ask “Have you ever placed the blame on someone else for some thing that was sin? Let me share an example from my days in High School in which I was blamed for some thing I didn’t do. It was finals week of my JR year. We were told on the Friday before this week there was to be no water balloons during the next week. We took our finals in two hour periods for each class. On the first day after the first test I had taken some guys came by in a car and asked if I would like a ride to lunch? I got in the car only to find that they had water balloons in the back seat. A policeman spotted us and I guess we looked guilty and started following us. We went around the corner and threw out the water balloons to destroy the evidence. Not a good idea. We were stopped and all our names were taken down. When we came back to school we were told to go to the gym because the principal wanted to talk with us. He told us we were suspended from school and could not take the other tests we were supposed to take the rest of the week. I was not a real good student and without the tests which counted heavily on our final grade I was in trouble. I did not know about the water balloons but I was guilty for being in that car. I later was given a chance to retake the tests as they found out I was a victim. In this story the disciples wanted to find where to place the blame. There was a belief back then that a back could sin while he was still in the womb of his mother. Jesus corrected their thinking in saying do not place the blame on anyone for this was to bring glory to God. This was to show the Divine power of God and the wickedness of man’s heart. Does your life bring glory to God? You see it not so much a mystery of that we are in sin or that we are blind to our sinfulness but it is what we do with the fact that Jesus came to set us free.
2. Next we see deliverance. 9:6-7 What caused this man’s deliverance? There was no virtue in the dust or the spit or the mud that was formed or the pool or the washing away the mud. Deliverance came because the man obeyed what Jesus told him to do. Jesus displayed here that He was the light of the world. The man went to the pool washed his eyes and came back seeing. This man was not responsible for being born blind but he was responsible for accepting or rejecting what Jesus told him to do. He had to make a choice to follow what Jesus said and come into the light or to remain in the darkness. We have to make that choice when God speaks to us. Hearing or reading the Word of God may seem like the dust or the spit or the mud but as we follow it we find light as we obey. It is only as we put the Word into our daily living that we come seeing. As we hear and read His word we can make no excuse for remaining in the spiritual darkness. JN 8:12 “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will have a life filled with light and will never live in the dark?" That is the Word of Jesus.
This was written by a Metro Denver Hospice Physician:
I was driving home from a meeting this evening about 5, stuck in traffic on Colorado Blvd., and the car started to choke and splutter and die. I barely managed to coast, cruising, into a gas station, glad only that I would not be blocking traffic and would have a somewhat warm spot to wait for the tow truck. It wouldn't even turn over. Before I could make the call, I saw a woman walking out of the "quickie mart" building, and it looked like she slipped on some ice and fell into a Gas pump, so I got out seeing if she was okay. When I got there, it looked more like she had been overcome by sobs than that she had fallen; she was a young woman who looked really haggard with dark circles under her eyes. She dropped something as I helped her up, and I picked it up to give it to her. It was a nickel. At that moment, everything came into focus for me: the crying woman, the ancient Suburban crammed full of stuff with 3 kids in the back (1 in a car seat), and the gas pump reading $4.95. I asked her if she was okay and if she needed help, and she just kept saying "don't want my kids to see me crying," so we stood on the other side of the pump from her car. She said she was driving to California and that things were very hard for her right now. So I asked, "And you were praying?" That made her back away from me a little, but I assured her I was not a crazy person and said, "He heard you, and He sent me." I took out my card and swiped it through the card reader on the pump so she could fill up her car completely, and while it was fueling, walked to the next door McDonald's and bought 2 big bags of food, some gift certificates for more, and a big cup of coffee. She gave the food to the kids in the car, who attacked it like wolves, and we stood by the pump eating fries and talking a little. She told me her name, and that she lived in Kansas City. Her boyfriend left 2 months ago and she had not been able to make ends meet. She knew she wouldn't have money to pay rent Jan 1, and finally in desperation had finally called her parents, with whom she had not spoken in about 5 years. They live in California and said she could come live with them and try to get on her feet there. So she packed up everything she owned in the car. She told the kids they were going to California for Christmas, but not that they were going to live there. I gave her my gloves, a little hug and said a quick prayer with her for safety on the road. As I was walking over to my car, she said, "So, are you like an angel or something?" This definitely made me cry. I said, "Sweetie, at this time of year angels are really busy, so sometimes God uses regular people." It was so incredible to be a part of someone else's miracle. And of course, you guessed it, when I got in my car it started right away and got me home with no problem. I'll put it in the shop tomorrow to check, but I suspect the mechanic won't find anything wrong. Sometimes the angels fly close enough to you that you can hear the flutter of their wings.
3. We hear his confession. JN 9:8-9 His neighbors and those who had previously seen him begging asked, "Isn't this the man who used to sit and beg?" Some of them said, "He's the one." Others said, "No, he isn't, but he looks like him." But the man himself said, "I am the one." As the man walks back from the pool the people ask how were your eyes opened? He confessed that a man named Jesus mad some mud, put it on his eyes and told him to go wash in the pool. I went and washed and came this way seeing. He did not take credit and was not ashamed to tell who it was who healed him. I liken him to a new person who has come to Christ and been forgiven and has to let others know because of the change in their life. Can you picture with me the delight in this man’s eyes as he said “I went, I washed and now I can see. He could tell the details but could not explain the miracle. He changed in such a great way that those who saw him in his changed state could not believe it was him.
One song can spark a moment; one flower can wake the dream. One tree can start a forest, One bird can herald spring, One smile begins a friendship, and One handclasp lifts a soul. One star can guide a ship at sea; One word can frame the goal. One vote can change a nation; One sunbeam can light a room. One candle can wipe out darkness, One laugh will conquer gloom, One-step must start each journey, and One word must start each prayer. One hope will raise our spirits; One touch can show you care. One voice can speak with wisdom; One heart can know what's true. One life can make the difference, You see, it's up to you and me.
