CROSS, SELLING Spiritual Growth

CROSS, SELLING

Spiritual Growth

Date: 1/2007.101

The boss said, "You can start tomorrow, Friday morning, and I'll come and see you when we close up."

When the boss saw the young man the next day at closing time, he saw him shaking hands with a beaming customer. After they parted, he walked over and asked, "Well, that looked good! How many sales did you make today?"

"That was the only one," said the young salesman.

"Only one?" blurted the boss. "Most of my staff make 20 or 30 sales a day. You'll have to do better than that! Well, how much was the sale worth?"

"$227,340 and change," said the young man.

The boss paused for a moment, blinking a few times. "H . . . H . . . How did you manage that?"

"Well, when he came in this morning I sold him a small fish hook. Then, I sold him a medium hook, and then a really large hook. Then I sold him a small fishing line, a medium one, and then a big one. I then sold him a spear gun, a wetsuit, scuba gear, nets, chum, and coolers. I asked him where he was going fishing and he said down the coast. We decided he would probably need a new boat, so I took him down to the boat department and sold him that twenty-foot schooner with the twin engines. Then, he said that his Volkswagen probably wouldn't be able to pull it, so I took him to the car department and sold him the new Deluxe Cruiser, with a winch, storage rack, rust proofing, and a built-in refrigerator. Oh, and floor mats."

The boss took two steps back and asked in astonishment, "You sold all that to a guy who came in for a fish hook?"

"No," answered the salesman. "He came in to buy a blanket."

"A blanket?"

"Yeah, an extra blanket for the couch. He just had a fight with his wife. I said to him, 'Well, your weekends ruined, so you may as well go fishing . . . '"

One thing leads to another. And that's the way it should work in our spiritual lives. As we grow and mature in Christ, we continue to add virtue upon virtue.

"But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love." (2 Peter 1:5-7).

By listening to others, we hear their surface needs and identify their felt needs and then real needs - in this way, we can bring them to Christ.

CROSS, BEARING

Bearing the Cross

Passport Through Darkness – Kimberly L Smith

Milton’s health got so bad that he had to stay State side and I was struggling to respond to the call to go to Sudan. I had never considered going to Africa. I made excuses, but the truth was that I was terrified of going to a place where mass rapes, sexual slavery, persecution, genocide were part and parcel of the daily routine. I saw this tension in Milton too. He wanted to keep his wife safe and by his side. He also wanted to be obedient and keep his eye on eternity, not just the here and now. He knew of the horrors against God and mankind taking place there in Sudan and felt God wanted Make Way Partners in that battles. He could not go. I could. Again, the impossible choice. Milton somehow knew something I could not yet admit. He knew that while I admitted I was afraid, in the end I would never let fear keep me from doing something I thought I should do.

One day he said to me, “I knew this day was coming. I ache. I am afraid of losing you. If I lose you, I lose more than a piece of me. I lose who I’ve grown into being. And yet, something so strong within me knows you need to go. I can’t believe I am saying this but…I choose to let you go.”

CROSS, BEARING

Suffering

Date: 4/2008.101

31 August 2008 DCFC English - Heb 11:24-29 - Moses the Man who withstood Pharaoh

3 May 2009 DCFC Chinese - Ps 23 ~ The Lord is my shepherd, what more shall I want? (Just the quote)

2009 OK Retreat - Heb 11:28-31 Faith 2 Finish: Choose, See, Do

14 Feb 2010 DCFC English Worship - [Building a Community in Christ] Eph 1:15-23 What should I pray about? (Just the quote)

2011 FCCD Retreat - Heb 11:28-31 Faith 2 Finish: Choose, See, Do

DA Carson, How long oh Lord?

In one church, a medical doctor, formerly a missionary, was appointed to the board of elders. Sometime later, he had an affair, divorce his wife, abandoned his children and separated himself from any form of Christianity. Countless attempts were made to rehabilitate him; doubtless some of these attempts were wise and others unwise.

But the most thoughtful assessment of the mess came a few years later from one of the leaders form the church. He suggested that this doctor, who came from a Christian home and had done all the "right things" had never had to make a decision that cost him anything. Everything was too easy; at every point he had been supported and praised. Even his missionary career was bound up with his own specialty interests in medicine. Then, when some troubles opened up in his marriage (as they open up in most marriages at one time or another) and an attractive alternative presented herself, this doctor had no moral center on which to depend. He never for the sake of Christ, taken a decision that cost him something and he was not about to start now. In hindsight, it is not even clear that his profession of faith was real, for real professions of faith manifest themselves in a principal death to self-interest, in a principal commitment to the cause of Christ & his gospel.

Sometimes we want to protect our children or flock from too many things. We try to protect them from the caustic scorn of peers who have little time for Christian values. After all we console ourselves, the Bible says much about earning a good reputation with outsiders. But that reputation is for integrity, kindness, love; it is never to be won at the expense of silence. I look at my children and wish for them enough opposition to make them strong, enough insults to make them choose, enough hard decisions to make them see that following Jesus brings with it a cost - a cost eminently worth it, but still a cost. A church that is merely comfortable that never evangelizes, never encourages its people to stand on the front line, will never be strong, never be grateful, never be able to sort out profoundly Christian priorities.

Wife - chosen her because she struggles. Best decision I made.

Much of western spirituality is deficient when faced with suffering. Where faith triumphs in adversity, we expect it to be manifest in unmoved resignation and where faith fails the failure is displayed in doubt that questions the integrity and possibly even the existence of God. But the psalmist does not display stoic resignation nor does she betray doubt that God exists
CROSS, BEARING

The Cross Room

Date: 6/2006.101

Still More Hot Illustrations For Youth Talks P180

A young man at the end of his rope groaned in distress as he prayed. "Lord, I can't go on. My cross is too heavy to bear."

"My son," the Lord replied with compassion, "If you can't bear its weight, come with me to the cross room. There you may exchange your cross for any other cross you choose."

Filled with relief, the young man sighed, "Thank you, Lord." Briskly entering the cross room, he mindlessly discarded his own cross and searched for one he'd rather carry. He saw many other crosses, some so large the tops weren't even visible. After winding in and out of the rows of crosses, he spotted a tiny cross leaning against the far wall. "I'd like that one, Lord." he whispered.

And the Lord replied, "My son, that is the cross you brought in."

Application:

To put your pain in proper perspective, set your hassles aside for a while and reach out to minister to those less fortunate than you. Assisting others to carry their load of suffering helps you recognize that God has blessed you with a lighter burden than you realize. When you pick your cross up again, it will feel lighter.
CROSS, BEARING

Way of the Cross

Aug 05 2012 DCFC Chinese Luke 14:15-35 Idol Worship

我10几年前在山东的一个家庭教会里听过一首诗歌，叫做“有一条路”。我想请杨道培弟兄上来给我们唱。

[诗歌：有一条路]