Rip The Roof Off

Rip the roof off (Luke 5:17-20)

Illus: 1

I heard a story about a dude who brought a friend to church who only typically attended twice a year: on Christmas and Easter . As they were walking out after the service was over – the pastor was standing at the door shaking everyone’s hands. He grabbed the dude’s friend by the hand and pulled him aside to talk to him.

The Pastor said to him, "Sir, you need to join the Army of the Lord!"

The friend replied, "Pastor, I'm already in the Army of the Lord."

The pastor questioned him, "Well then why do I only see you at Christmas and Easter?

He whispered back, "Because pastor, I'm a part timer!”

WE DON’T NEED part time CHRISTIANS, WE NEED COMMITED CARING CHRISTIANS TO REACH OUT TO THE LOST

illus 2: THE FOLLOWING IS A TRUE STORY

Every Sunday afternoon, after the morning service at their church, the Pastor and his eleven year old son would go out into their town and hand out Gospel Tracts. This particular Sunday afternoon, as it came time for the Pastor and his son to go to the streets with their tracts, it was very cold outside as well as pouring down rain. The boy bundled up in his warmest and driest clothes and said---"OK dad, I'm ready."

His Pastor dad asked---"Ready for what ?" "Dad, it's time we gather our tracts together and go out." Dad responds, "Son, it's very cold outside and it's pouring down rain." The boy gives his dad a surprised look, asking, "But Dad, aren't people still going to Hell, even though it's raining?"

Dad answers, "Son, I am not going out in this weather." Despondently, the boy asks, "Dad, can I go? Please?" His father hesitated for a moment then said, "Son, you can go. Here's the tracts; be careful son." "Thanks Dad!!!" And with that, he was off and out into the rain. This eleven year old boy walked the streets of the town going door to door and handing everybody he met in the street a Gospel Tract. After two hours of walking in the rain, he was soaking, bone-chilled wet and down to his VERY LAST TRACT. He stopped on a corner and looked for someone to hand a tract to, but the streets were totally deserted.

Then he turned toward the first home he saw and started up the sidewalk to the front door and rang the door bell. He rang the bell, but nobody answered. He rang it again and again, but still no one answered. He waited but still no answer. Finally, this eleven year old trooper turned to leave, but something stopped him. Again, he turned to the door and rang the bell and knocked loudly on the door with his fist. He waited, something holding him there on the front porch. He rang again, and this time the door slowly opened.

Standing in the doorway was a very sad-looking elderly lady. She softly asked, " What can I do for you son?" With radiant eyes and a smile that lit up her world, this little boy said, "Ma'am, I'm sorry if I disturbed you, but I just want to tell you that JESUS REALLY DOES LOVE YOU, and I came to give you my very last Gospel Tract which will tell you all about JESUS and His great LOVE." With that, he handed her his last tract, and turned to leave.

She called to him as he departed. "Thank you, son! And God Bless You!"

Well, the following Sunday morning in church, Pastor Dad was in the pulpit. As the service began, he asked, "Does anybody have a testimony or want to say anything?" Slowly, in the back row of the church, an elderly lady stood to her feet.

As she began to speak, a look of glorious radiance came from her face as she, "No one in this church knows me. I've never been here before. You see, before last Sunday I was not a Christian. My husband passed on some time ago, leaving me totally alone in this world.

Last Sunday, being a particularly cold and rainy day, it was even more so in my heart that I came to the end of the line where I no longer had any hope or will to live. So I took a rope and a chair and ascended the stairway into the attic of my home. I fastened the rope securely to a rafter in the roof, then stood on the chair and fastened the other end of the rope around my neck.

Standing on that chair, so lonely and brokenhearted, I was about to leap off, when suddenly the loud ringing of my doorbell downstairs startled me. I thought, "I'll wait a minute, and whoever it is will go away." I waited and waited, but the ringing doorbell seemed to get louder and more insistent, and then the person ringing also started knocking loudly. I thought to myself again, "Who on earth could this be?! Nobody ever rings my bell or comes to see me." I loosened the rope from my neck and started for the front door, all the while the bell rang louder and louder.