We Are Already Set Free

Ray Bakke writes...

I knew an old Glasgow professor named MacDonald who, along with a Scottish chaplain, had bailed out of an airplane behind German lines. They were put in a prison camp. A high wire fence separated the Americans from the British, and the Germans made it next to impossible for the two sides to communicate. MacDonald was put in the American barracks and the chaplain was housed with the Brits.

Every day the two men would meet at the fence and exchange a greeting. Unknown to the guards, the Americans had a little homemade radio and were able to get news from the outside, something more precious than food in a prison camp. Every day, MacDonald would take a headline or two to the fence and share it with the chaplain in the ancient Gaelic language, indecipherable to the Germans.

One day, news came over the little radio that the German High Command had surrendered and the war was over. MacDonald took the news to his friend, then stood and watched him disappear into the British barracks. A moment later, a roar of celebration came from the barracks.

Life in that camp was transformed. Men walked around singing and shouting, waving at the guards, even laughing at the dogs. When the German guards finally heard the news three nights later, they fled into the dark, leaving the gates unlocked. The next morning, Brits and Americans walked out as free men. Yet they had truly been set free three days earlier by the news that the war was over.

While Christ’s Kingdom is not fully achieved, we know the outcome of the battle. We too have been set free.

—Ray Bakke, Chicago, Illinois. Leadership, Vol. 19, no. 2.
See: Isaiah 61:1; John 8:32; John 16:33; Romans 8:21.

"Without Folds"

Spiros Zodhiates writes...

There is a significant word in the Greek New Testament which is
used to describe a person who truly exhibits sincerity in their
Christian life. The word is haplotes, which literally means
without folds. This is best illustrated by examining a simple
sheet of paper. As you fold down the edges or if you were to
crumple the page, you will notice that in trying to straighten it
out, there is still evidence which is permanently ingrained into
the texture of the paper.

A person that is truly sincere will have evidences of “no folds.”
In the New Testament, this type of person is described as
faithful, pure and benevolent (Eph. 6:5; Col 3:22). Also, it is
used to describe a generous giver who has no ulterior motives (2
Cor. 9:13). Are you a person “without folds” in your character? In
the workplace, are you the type of worker who respects authority
for the right reasons? When God looks at you does He see your
sincerity?

How You Can Be a Peacemaker

Carl and Sam were at odds with each other. They could not even
remember the initial cause of friction … but their hostility had
festered through the years. A deeply concerned deacon prayed that
God would use him as a peacemaker.

He called on Carl. “What do you think of Sam?” he asked. “He’s the
sorriest guy in town!” “But,” countered the deacon, “you have to
admit that he’s a hard-working man.” “No one can deny that,” said
Carl. “I’ve never known a person who worked harder.”

Next the deacon visited Sam. “Do you know what Carl said about
you?” “No, but I can imagine his lies,” he responded angrily.
“This may surprise you,” said the deacon, “but he said he’s never
known a harder worker.” “He said that?” Sam was stunned. “What do
you think of Carl?” asked the deacon. “It is no secret that I have
absolutely no use for him.” “But you must admit he’s honest in
business,” said the deacon. “There’s no getting around that,” said
Sam. “In business he’s a man you can trust.”

Later the deacon met Carl again. “Do you know what Sam said about
you? He claims you’re absolutely trustworthy in business, that you
are scrupulously honest.” “Well, how ’bout that,” reacted Carl
with a smile.

Soon the peacemaking deacon noticed Sam and Carl would cautiously
nod in a friendly sort of way. Before long they were shaking
hands, talking, even visiting in each other’s homes. Today they
are best of friends.

Many people, even church folk, seem to delight in promoting a
fight by carrying news of ill-will. Rip this page from a deacon’s
peacemaking notebook. It’s a worthy example to follow.

"True Riches"

A tax assessor came one day to a poor minister of the gospel to
determine the amount of taxes he would have to pay. “What do you
possess?” he questioned.

“Oh, I am very wealthy,” replied the minister. “List your
possessions, please,” the assessor instructed.

The man of God replied, “First, I have everlasting life—John 3:16.
Second, I have a mansion in Heaven—John 14:2. Thirdly, I have
peace that passeth understanding—Philippians 4:7. Fourth, I have
joy unspeakable—1 Peter 1:8. Fifth, I have divine love that never
faileth—1 Corinthians 13:8. Sixth, I have a faithful, pious wife—
Proverbs 31:10. Seventh, I have healthy, happy, obedient
children—Exodus 20:12. Eighth, I have true, loyal friends—Proverbs
18:24. Ninth, I have songs in the night—Psalm 42:8. Tenth, I have
a crown of life awaiting—James 1:12.”

The tax collector closed his book and said, “Truly, you are a very
rich man, but your property is not subject to taxation.”

Starving Near the South Pole

In 1908, Irish explorer Ernest Shackleton headed an Antarctic expedition attempting to reach the South Pole. They came closer than any before but, 97 miles short of the pole, had to turn back. Shackleton and his men trudged over 200 miles of ice floes,
dragging a lifeboat weighing nearly a ton, taken from their ship, crushed by the ice pack.

In his diary Shackleton told of the time when their food supplies were exhausted save for one last ration of hardtack, a dried sort of biscuit, that was distributed to each man. Some of the men took snow, melted it, and made tea while consuming their biscuit. Others, however, stowed the hardtack in their food sacks, saving it
for a last moment of hungry desperation.

The fire was built up, and weary, exhausted men climbed into their sleeping bags to face a restless sleep, tossing and turning. Shackleton said that he was almost asleep when out of the corner of his eye, he noticed one of his most trusted men sitting up in his bag and looking about to see if anyone was watching.

Shackleton’s heart sank within him as this man began to reach toward the food sack of the man next to him. Shackleton watched as the man opened the food sack and took his own hardtack and put it in the other man’s sack.

—Harold J. Sala, quoted in Men of Integrity, Vol. 3, no. 5.

Fruits of Community Involvement

For his first pastorate, Burkett Smith came to the Evangelical United Brethren church of Bear Lake. He discovered that the members had little concern for their neighbors in this dwindling western Pennsylvania town. Invited to serve as an honorary member of the Bear Lake Volunteer Fire Department, the new pastor accepted—and learned that not one of his church men was in the fire company.

At the next church men’s meeting, Smith told the fellows they should be active in community affairs. For instance, why weren’t any of them members of the volunteer fire department? The young pastor’s words made sense to at least five men. Next time the fire company met, they were present for their first meeting.

The following Sunday morning at Bear Lake E.U.B., as the service was about to begin, five men from the fire department who’d never before attended walked in. They filed straight down to the front row.

That Sunday Burkett Smith preached on the Christian responsibility of parents. Next Sunday the five were back at church—this time with their families. And within the next few months, all five of the firemen became Christians, together with their wives.

—Joe Bayly, in Eternity (10-61); quoted in Men of Integrity, Vol. 4, no. 2, (March/April 2001).

See: Matthew 5:16; 1 Corinthians 9:19-22; James 2:17

"A Great Dad Story"

Derek Redmond ran the 400-meters in his fastest time in five years in preliminary rounds at the summer Olympic games in Barcelona. Four years earlier, in Seoul, a tendon problem had forced Derek to drop out. He had since undergone operations on both Achilles tendons.
But in the finals, as he rounded the turn into the back stretch, a sharp pain shot up his right leg. He went down, struggled to his feet and began hobbling around the track.

High in the stands, Jim Redmond saw Derek collapse, ran down onto the track and, catching up with his son, put his arm around him. “You don’t have to do this.”

“Yes, I do,” said Derek.

“Then we’ll finish together.”

Defending Olympic champion Steve Lewis won the heat and headed toward the tunnel. So did the other six runners. Leaning on his Dad’s right shoulder in intense pain, Derek began sobbing. An usher attempted to escort Jim off the track. But father and son continued, crossing the finish line to thundering cheers.

Redmond’s race results read “AB” for abandoned. Hardly! Redmond was held up and carried across the finish line by a caring, loving father just like our Heavenly Father does.

—Ken Sutterfield, The Power of an Encouraging Word (New Leaf, 1997), quoted in Men of Integrity, Vol. 2, no. 4.

See: Matthew 7:11; Luke 15:20; Ephesians 2:4-10

"Getting The Fist Pump"

Bob Welch writes...

Recently, I watched my son play in a qualifying event for a PGA Nike golf tournament. At 19 and 5-foot-8, he was the youngest and smallest of 115 entrants, and one of the few amateurs. He had played hard and smart but hadn’t been able to sink a putt all day.

But he had handled himself with dignity and battled to the end of a course whose tees were set as far back as possible, and whose pins were tucked deep behind traps.

That night, after he had returned to college, I e-mailed him to tell him I was proud of him.
His return message said, “Thanks for the note. And thanks for coming today. My favorite part about playing well is when you are there to see me do things right. I loved hitting approach shots close and then getting the ‘fist-pump’ from you. I want so badly to play well for you—I want you to be able to see me putt like I know I can. But it fills me with joy to hear you say that you’re proud of me. As much as an 81 hurts, I’d take an ‘I’m proud of you’ over a 71 any day.”

—Bob Welch, Where Roots Grow Deep (Harvest House, 1999), quoted in Men of Integrity, Vol. 2, no. 4.
See: Proverbs 23:24; Proverbs 10:1; Proverbs 23:15

"The Coors Triumph"

On February 9, 1960, Adolph Coors III was kidnapped and held for ransom. Seven months later his body was found on a remote hillside. He had been shot to death. Adolph Coors IV, then fifteen years old, lost not only his father but his best friend. For years young Coors hated Joseph Corbett, the man who was sentenced to life for the slaying.

Then in 1975 Ad Coors became a Christian. While he divested himself of his interest in the family beer business, he could not divest himself of the hatred that consumed him. Resentment seethed within him and blighted his growth in faith. He prayed to God for help because he realized how his hatred for Corbett was alienating him from God and other persons. The day came, however, when claiming the Spirit's presence, Ad Coors visited the maximum security unit of Colorado's Canon City penitentiary and tried to talk with Corbett. Corbett refused to see him. Coors left a Bible inscribed with this message: I'm here to see you today and I'm sorry that we could not meet. As a Christian I am summoned by our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, to forgive. I do forgive you, and I ask you to forgive me for the hatred I've held in my heart for you." Later Coors confessed, "I have a love for that man that only Jesus Christ could have put in my heart."

--James S. Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited (Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc, 1988) p. 215.

The Church's Mission - A Parable

Philip Anderson writes...

Not long ago I visited my sister, a director of patient services for the children's unit of a large southern California hospital. She was conducting me on a tour through that unit. All the time--echoing through the halls--we could hear the cry of a baby coming from one of the rooms. Finally, we came to that room. It was a little child, about a year old, covered with terrible bruises, scratches, scars, from head to toe.

At first, I assumed the child must have been involved in a terrible accident. Then I looked closely at its legs. Written in ink all over them were obscenities. My sister told me that the child was the victim, not of an accident, but of its parents. Its internal injuries were so severe that it couldn't keep any food down. The scars on the bottom of its feet were burns caused by cigarettes.

If you've ever had trouble visualizing the consequences of human indifference--the perversion of life's basic relationships--what God himself is up against in this world of ours--I wish you could have looked with me at that battered, crying baby!

But I want to tell you what happened then. My sister leaned over the crib, and very carefully and tenderly lifted the child, and held it next to herself. At first the child screamed all the more, as if its innocent nature had come to be suspicious of every touch. But as she held it securely and warmly, the baby slowly began to quiet down. And finally, in spite of wounds and hurts and past experience, it felt the need to cry no more.

The baby remains in my memory as a living symbol of the choice we face in the mission of the church. Are we willing to let life's most precious values be battered and starved and crucified by default? Or will we reach out and pick them up and hold them close to our hearts? The time for commitment is not next year, next month, but now!

Philip Anderson

--James S. Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited (Wheaton: Tyndale
House Publishers, Inc, 1988) pp. 113-114.

Mother's Ultimate Gift

Years ago, a young mother was making her way across the hills of South Wales, carrying her tiny baby in her arms, when she was overtaken by a blinding blizzard. She never reached her destination and when the blizzard had subsided her body was found by searchers beneath a mound of snow. But they discovered that before her death, she had taken off all her outer clothing and wrapped it about her baby. When they unwrapped the child, to their great surprise and joy, they found he was alive and well. She had mounded her body over his and given her life for her child, proving the depths of her mother love. Years later that child, David Lloyd George, grown to manhood, became prime minister of Great Britain, and, without a doubt, one of England's greatest statesmen.

--James S. Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited (Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc, 1988), p. 375.

No Exceptions!

One evening I stopped by the church just to encourage those who were there rehearsing for the spring musical. I didn't intend to stay long, so I parked my car next to the entrance. After a few minutes, I ran back to my car and drove home.

The next morning I found a note in my office mailbox. It read: "A small thing, but Tuesday night when you came to rehearsal, you parked in the 'No Parking' area. A reaction from one of my crew (who did not recognize you until after you got out of the car) was, 'There's another jerk parking in the "No Parking" area!' We try hard not to allow people--even workers--to park anywhere other than the parking lots. I would appreciate your cooperation, too." It was signed by a member of our maintenance staff.

I'm sorry to report this staff member is no longer with us. He was late coming back for lunch the next day, and we had to let him go. You have to draw the line somewhere. ...

No, I'm kidding. Actually he's still very much with us, and his stock went up in my book because he had the courage to write me about what could have been a slippage in my character.

And he was right on the mark. As I drove up that night, I had thought, "I shouldn't park here, but after all, I am the pastor." That translates: I'm an exception to the rules. But that employee wouldn't allow me to sneak down the road labeled "I'm an exception."

I'm not the exception to church rules, nor am I the exception to sexual rules or financial rules or any of God's rules. As a leader, I am not an exception; I'm to be the example. According to Scripture, I am to life in such a way that I can say, "Follow me. Park where I park. Live as I live."

That's why we all need people like my staff member to hold us accountable in even the small matters. Because when we keep the minor matters in line, we don't stumble over the larger ones.

Just when I was starting to think, "I'm an exception," somebody on our staff cared enough to say, "Don't do it, Bill, not even in one small area." That's love.

-- Bill Hybels, Willow Creek Community Church South Barrington, Illinois in Leadership, Vol. 9, no. 2.
See: Job 13:10; Mal 2:9; Jas 2:4

Equal Opportunity Savior

There's a wonderful story about a Chicago bank that once asked for a letter of recommendation on a young Bostonian being considered for employment. The Boston investment house could not say enough about the young man. His father they wrote, was a Cabot; his mother was a Lowell. Further back was a happy blend of Saltonstalls, Peabodys, and others of Boston's finest families. His recommendation was given without hesitation.

Several days later, the Chicago bank sent a note saying the information supplied was altogether inadequate. It read: "We are not contemplating using the young man for breeding purposes. Just for work." Neither is God a respecter of persons but accepts those from every family, nation, and race who fear him and work for his Kingdom. (Acts 10:34-35).

-- Kathleen Peterson, Chicago, Illinois, Leadership, Vol. 5, no. 1.
See: Ro 14:4, 10-13; 1 Sa 16:7

Five Ways To Get Rid Of Your Pastor

Sit up front, smile and say "amen" every time he says something good. He will preach himself to death.

Pat him on the back and tell him what good work he is doing in the church and community. He will work himself to death.

Increase your offering in the church. Then he will suffer from shock.

Tell him you have decided to join the visitation group and win souls for the Lord. He will probably suffer a heart attack.

Get the whole church to band together and pray for him. He will get so efficient that some other church will hear about him and give him a call. That will take him off your hands.

- Parsons Bible Illustrator 3.0

SKEPTIC CONVERTED
A minister preached a sermon one evening and went home utterly discouraged. He felt that he was a failure in the ministry, though at the same time he was greatly burdened for the lost. Some time past midnight his doorbell rang, and the leader of the choir, who was known as a bit of a skeptic, came to him saying, "Doctor, I am in agony concerning my soul. Your sermon tonight has convicted me of my sin, and I must have help or I shall die." In a very short time he was rejoicing in Christ. When asked what it was in the sermon that had impressed him, he said, "It was not so much what you said as the way you said it. I could see by the look in your eye and by the very pathos in your voice that you were longing for men to be saved, and I could not resist your message."

Where His Sermons Went

Coming to the close of many years of faithful ministry, an aged pastor tied his sermon notes in a bundle and wrote on it: "Where his the influence of all the sermons I have preached gone?" One who had been under his ministry for years and who had grown in Christlikeness and in the knowledge of God's Word, gave the following heartfelt appraisal of his sermons: "Where are last year's sunrays? They have gone into fruits and grains and vegetables to feed mankind. Where are last year's raindrops? Forgotten, of course, but they did their gracious and refreshing work. Your sermons, preached over the years, have gone into my life and into the lives of others, to make me and them better, nobler, and more Christlike. They have deepened our love for God's Word, given us a vision of and love for unsaved ones, and have challenged us to go on in the Christian life!"

Envying Mozart

Remember the story of Mozart's life told from the perspective of Antonio Salieri. The play and the film were both called Amadeus. Salieri was the court musician in Vienna. He worked hard at his craft, writing melodies that were nice and choral pieces that were fine and instrumental works that were good. He knew that God had blessed him.

As a young man he had prayed fervently to God, "Let me make music that will glorify you, Father. Help me lift the hearts of people to heaven. Let me serve you through my music."

Then came the boy wonder, the child prodigy, young Mozart. He dazzled the crowds, playing music as if it was second nature to him. Complex melodies came from his dancing fingers. His melodies were complex and fun all at the same time, songs that soared till they seemed to bring heaven right down to earth.

Here's the catch: Mozart was such an obvious sinner. He was immature, vulgar, and obscene. He made off with the ladies every chance he could get. Salieri grew green with envy. How could life be so unfair. He was the servant of God. Why should Mozart be blessed with such talents? Salieri lived a pious and obedient life. Why should Mozart traffic in all these worldly pleasures and still get ahead? Salieri spent a lifetime of hard and tedious work. Why should it all come so easily for youthful Mozart?

The story continues until Mozart dies a mysterious death. Salieri's eyes gleam. And in the dramatic climax, Salieri sits in an insane asylum, where he curses God for denying him the kind of talent that blessed young Mozart. Envy lurks on the path of the crushed spirit.

-- Wayne Brouwer, "Taming the Beast," Preaching Today, Tape No. 118.
See: Pr 11:2; 1 Sa 2:3; Isa 5:21.

Not All Composers Make Good Conductors

The following story brings out the fact that we were all created to function in certain areas with gifts and talents, however, whenwe begin to move outside of that realm it sometimes leads to great difficulty for us... and others.

He wanted to conduct. His conducting style, however, was idiosyncratic. During soft passages he'd crouch extremely low. For loud sections, he'd often leap into the air, even shouting to the orchestra.

His memory was poor. Once he forgot that he had instructed the orchestra not to repeat a section of music. During the performance, when he went back to repeat that section, they went forward, so he stopped the piece, hollering, "Stop! Wrong! That will not do! Again! Again!"

For his own piano concerto, he tried conducting from the piano. At one point he jumped from the bench, bumping the candles off the piano. At another concert he knocked over a choir boy.

During one long, delicate passage, he jumped high to cue a loud entrance, but nothing happened because he had lost count and signaled the orchestra too soon.

As his hearing worsened, musicians tried to ignore his conducting and get their cues from the first violinist.

Finally the musicians pled with him to go home and give up conducting, which he did.

He was Ludwig van Beethoven.

As the man whom many consider to be the greatest composer of all time learned, no one is a genius of all trades.

-- David Sacks in Fresh Illustrations for Preaching & Teaching (Baker), from the editors of Leadership.

See: Pr 11:2; 29:23; Mt 18:4; Jas 4:10.

The Burden Bearer

Bob Weber, past president of Kiwanis International, told this story. He had spoken to a club in a small town and was spending the night with a farmer on the outskirts of the community. He had just relaxed on the front porch when a newsboy delivered the evening paper. The boy noted the sign Puppies for Sale. The boy got off his bike and said to the farmer, "How much do you want for the pups, mister?" "Twenty-five dollars, son." The boy's face dropped. "Well, sir, could I at least see them anyway?" The farmer whistled, and in a moment the mother dog came bounding around the corner of the house tagged by four of the cute puppies, wagging their tails and yipping happily. At last, another pup came straggling around the house, dragging one hind leg. "What's the matter with that puppy, mister?" the boy asked. "Well, Son, that puppy is crippled. We took her to the vet and the doctor took an X ray. The pup doesn't have a hip joint and that leg will never be right." To the amazement of both men, the boy dropped the bike, reached for his collection bag and took out a fifty-cent piece. "Please, mister," the boy pleaded, "I want to buy that pup. I'll pay you fifty cents every week until the twenty-five dollars is paid. Honest I will, mister." The farmer replied, "But, Son, you don't seem to understand. That pup will never, never be able to run or jump. That pup is going to be a cripple forever. Why in the world would you want such a useless pup as that?"

The boy paused for a moment, then reached down and pulled up his pant leg, exposing that all too familiar iron brace and leather knee-strap holding a poor twisted leg. The boy answered, "Mister, that pup is going to need someone who understands him to help him in life!"

Crippled and disfigured by sin, the risen, living Christ has given us hope. He understands us--our temptations, our discouragements, and even our thoughts concerning death. By His resurrection we have help in this life and hope for the life to come.

--James S. Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited (Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc, 1988) p. 75.

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The Sinner's Friend

One evening a woman was driving home when she noticed a huge truck behind her that was driving uncomfortably close. She stepped on the gas to gain some distance from the truck, but when she sped up the truck did too. The faster she drove, the faster drove the truck.

Now scared, she exited the freeway. But the truck stayed with her. The woman then turned up a main street, hoping to lose her pursuer in traffic. But the truck ran a red light and continued the chase.

Reaching the point of panic, the woman whipped her car into a service station and bolted out of her auto screaming for help. The truck driver sprang from his truck and ran toward her car. Yanking the back door open, the driver pulled out a man hidden in the backseat.

The woman was running from the wrong person. From his high vantage point, the truck driver had spotted a would-be rapist in the woman's car. The chase was not his effort to harm her but to save her even at the cost of his own safety.

Likewise, many people run from God's provision of atonement on the cross, fearing what He might do to them. But His plans are for good not evil--to rescue us from the hidden sins that endanger our lives.

--James S. Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited (Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc, 1988) p. 37.

The Privilege of Suffering

Joni Eareckson's story is now well known to us both through her books and the movie about her paralysis as a teenager and her amazing fight back to a useful and productive life of ministry through her art. From the preface of Joni:

Isolated, by itself, what is a minute? Merely a measurement of time. There are sixty in an hour, 1,440 in a day. At seventeen, I had already ticked off more than 9 million of them in my life. Yet, in some cosmic plan, this single minute was isolated. Into these particular sixty seconds was compressed more significance than all the millions of minutes marking my life prior to this instant.

So many actions, sensations, thoughts, and feelings were crowded into that fragment of time. How can I describe them? How can I begin to catalog them?

I recall so clearly the details of those few dozen seconds--seconds destined to change my life forever. And there was no warning or premonition.

What happened on July 30, 1967, was the beginning of an incredible adventure which I feel compelled to share because of what I have learned.

Oscar Wilde wrote: "In this world there are only two tragedies. One is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it." To rephrase his thought, I suggest there are likewise only two joys. One is having God answer all your prayers; the other is not receiving the answer to all your prayers. I believe this because I have found that God knows my needs infinitely better than I know them. And He is utterly dependable, no matter which direction our circumstances take us.

In the Psalms we're told that God does not deal with us according to our sins and iniquities. My accident was not a punishment for my wrongdoing--whether or not I deserved it. Only God knows why I was paralyzed. Maybe He knew I'd be ultimately happier serving Him. If I were still on my feet, it's hard to say how things might have gone. I probably would have drifted through life--marriage, maybe even divorce--dissatisfied and disillusioned. When I was in high school, I reacted to life selfishly and never built on any long lasting values. I lived simply for each day and the pleasure I wanted--and almost always at the expense of others.

--James S. Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited (Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc, 1988) p. 13.

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