The Normal Christian Birth

BELIEVE IN THE SON

What direction?

- living for God

- following the Son. Jesus being ¡¥Lord¡¦, boss

o that was the baptismal cry of the early Christians

Everyone follows someone

President Calvin Coolidge once invited friends from his hometown to dine with him at the White House. Unsure of their table manners, the guests decided to imitate the president. They watched closely to see which utensils he used, what foods he ate and when. Their strategy seemed to succeed until coffee was served. Coolidge poured some coffee into his saucer. They did the same. He added sugar and cream. His guests did, too. Then the president bent over and put his saucer on the floor for the cat! Contributed by: Joel Smith on www.sermoncentral.com

Well- Christians follow Jesus! That¡¦s what being a Christian is!

- it¡¦s not having all the answers! But rather following one who does

o and is THE only answer to me in this world

„X Fri¡¦s funeral ¡¥Jesus lives, thy terrors now, can no more O death appal us¡¦

„X Tsunami. The suffering God

In fact: the best definition I ever heard was from a Hindu:

- ¡§It¡¦s following Jesus to the point of reflecting Him¡¨

When American Indians (Native Americans) used to go through forests they would step in the first person’s footprints so no one knew a whole army was there.

And Jesus said that He was the one to follow to get to God.

- that if you followed Him He would lead you to know God¡K experience Him¡K know what He¡¦s like

- if you get the Son you get the Father, too.

You may have heard the story of the rich art collector who had one of the greatest collections of art in the world. It was full of such beauty that you¡¦d think he would have been one of the happiest men ion the world. But in fact that wasn¡¦t the case. His only son had been killed in a car accident at a young age and the man had never really got over it. You see he¡¦d loved his son so much. He was so proud of him when he graduated from University and he had great plans for him to follow on in the family business. And then he died and the man was devastated. So he put all his energy into compiling the best art collection he could manage in memory of his son. Well, the man died without an heir and when the will was read it was announced that his art collection would be auctioned off. On the day of the auction art dealers came from far and wide hoping for a bargain. There were people on mobile phones, an Internet connection; you name it. Well, the first item for auction was a portrait of a young man by an unknown painter. It wasn¡¦t a particularly good portrait. None of the dealers was interested in it. They were waiting for the real art to come up for sale. The auctioneer called for bids and there was silence. Not a hand moved. He lowered his suggested amount and eventually an old man up the back bid a small amount for it. He was the art collector¡¦s butler and he realised that the portrait was that of the man¡¦s son, whom he too had loved. It had been painted just before the young man died. He valued the painting not for it¡¦s artistic value but for its sentimental value. Well, the art dealers were glad to have that out of the way. Now they could get on with the real sale. But then the auctioneer announced, "Ladies and Gentlemen I¡¦m required to read the following clause of the will. It reads ¡¦Whoever buys the portrait of my son gets everything else as well.¡¦ The auction is now over." Whoever has the son has everything! Rom 8:31-32: "If God is for us, who is against us? 32He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else?