C cares, of the world
Download 1.22 Mb.
|
- Navigate this page:
- How much time do we spend in Quiet Time
- Michaelangelo
- CHRIST, BIRTH
- CHRIST, BLOOD OF
- Splattering Chicken Blood
- The Blood of an Overcomer
CHRIST, BEING LIKEBurning for Christ Requires Being Close to HimDate: 3/2006.101 John RW Stott "The Cross is the blazing fire at which the flame of our love is kindled, and we have to get near enough for its sparks to fall on us." CHRIST, BEING LIKE How much time do we spend in Quiet Time?Date: 3/2006.101 We become who we associate with most. We were discussing about children with friends and then they told us that they took after their parents when it came to quarrelling - both of them just do not raise their voice and do not know how to quarrel because of their environment. The wife shared with us that She could not remember once that her father raised his voice, so much so that her sister do not shout or raise her voice at all because she don’t know how. Well, I realized that I was the opposite and began thinking - How do I want my children to grow up to be? Then I must set the correct environment. Because the more time they spend with me, the more they will take after me - thru observation etc. How do we want to take after? We say Christ - but how much do time do we spend with Him? MichaelangeloRobert J. Morgan, On This Day: 365 Amazing and Inspiring Stories About Saints, Martyrs & Heroes, electronic ed. (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1997). March 6, 1475 is the birthdate of the creator of David, Moses, the Pieta, and the dome of St. Peter’s. Michelangelo Buonarroti was born in a small Italian town, nursed in a marble quarry, and raised in nearby Florence. He spent his leisure painting and drawing, and was chosen at age 13 for admittance to a new art school established by Lorenzo de’ Medici in the Medici Gardens. Between lessons, he listened to the mighty Savonarola preaching his fiery gospel nearby. As a young man he gained rapid fame for his Pieta (Madonna holding her crucified son), then for carving David from an 18-foot piece of discarded marble. Pope Julius next put him on his back atop scaffolding, painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. He was called a genius. But behind Michelangelo’s genius resided a tragic figure. He didn’t get along with others and frequently burned with jealousy, foul moods, and disdain for others. He wore old clothes which he seldom changed, and he never bathed. Though rich, he lived as a miser. He ate whatever he found, sometimes only crumbs, and he slept in his raiment and boots. He hated small talk and preferred being alone. He disliked women. All his passion went into his work, and he had little need for friends, except for a servant who tended to him for 25 years and shared his bed. Michelangelo’s bad temper caused one pope to remark, “He is such an alarming man, and there is no getting on with him.” At times the artist was depressed to the edge of insanity, and in his old age he became obsessed with the fear of hell. But in advancing age his thoughts turned more and more to the Christ he had so frequently painted, and to the sermons he had heard from the martyred Savonarola. Near the end of his life, Michelangelo wrote that neither Painting nor sculpture now can lull to rest / My soul, that turns to His great love on high, / Whose arms to clasp us on the cross are spread. He died in his eighty-ninth year. CHRIST, BIRTHThe Heli FamilyDate: 10/2008.101 Christmas The Heli family lived in a village in northern Palestine. As you know this is a part of the world marked by terrible violence and age old hatreds. The Heli children grew up hearing stories of how their grandparents and great-grandparents had lived freely in their land, how their country had been invaded and taken over by a foreign government. Life was hard and the conflict was often brutal. Some of the village folk grudgingly accepted the state of affairs and got on with life as best they could; others fought back, becoming terrorists bent on forcing the foreign government to withdraw. When the Helis were about to have their first child the government demanded they move to a village in the south. They made what was a difficult trip for a heavily pregnant woman and set up their home in a new village. Any peace they experienced was short-lived. One morning the villagers awoke to the sound to government soldiers moving door to door, tearing terrified children from the arms of their parents and then cold-bloodedly executing them. The slaughter was ordered by a government which figured the best way to eliminate future threats to power was to kill the future leaders. The Helis were lucky to escape. Knowing the government had given orders to kill all children in that area they had no option but to flee to their neighboring country, Egypt, and seek refuge. They had no time to arrange visas, no time to apply for asylum and then wait for their application to be processed. If they were to save their child there was no option other than sneaking across the border and living the fearful shadow life of an unlawful entrant into a foreign land. It was only years later, after the threat died down, that they were able to go home to their beloved homeland. You of course know the Helis. You recount their story every Christmas, the story of Joseph, son of Heli, his wife Mary, and their baby son, Jesus. CHRIST, BLOOD OFDEFINING MOMENTS OF FAITH Several years ago Jeff Strueker was a US Army Ranger posted in Mogadishu, Somalia. Today he is a master of divinity student at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY. For him Oct 3-4, 1993 were the defining moments of his life. He was one of the troops called on to go into the center Mogadisu to secure a building as part of a larger operation. The movie “Black Hawk Down” came out about a year ago chronicling the events of those two days. In the first trip into the city he and most of his friends got out through a hailstorm of bullets. One man was shot and killed. It was then that he felt the fear. He began to pray. The humvee was painted with blood as they escaped the city with their dead and wounded comrades. The news soon worsened. A helicopter was shot down. The team received orders to return to the melee. Yet, his men understandably couldn’t fight in the bloody humvees. Struecker spent the next 30 to 45 minutes cleaning. No running water. Only sponges and buckets.
"I’ll never forget this for the rest of my life. ... A scene appeared in the landscape of my mind. The scene was Jesus in the Garden. ... He clearly and honestly knew that he was going to die. ... He also showed that he did not want to go to that cross and die. And I knew that I didn’t want to die that night. But Jesus courageously said, ’God, not my will, but yours be done.’ "If I die tonight, that’s fine, as long as your will is done," Struecker said. For the first time in his life, Struecker -- who had been a Christian since age 13 -- was prepared to die. "God spoke to my mind and my heart and said, ’I’ve been protecting you every day of your life,’" Struecker said. "He did not tell me, ’You will live through the night.’ He simply showed me my life has always been in his hands." Struecker and his men returned to the field of fire in Mogadishu that night and fought with a God-given courage. The sergeant first class would later... CHRIST, BLOOD OF Splattering Chicken BloodDate: 11/2007.101 Illustrations for Preaching & Teaching From Leadership Journal: Ed. Craig Brian Larson #11 Dennis Fulton, former pilot with the Wings of Caring ministry in Zaire, tells of landing a newly purchased Cessna 402 at one of his regular stops in the back country. As always, the villagers excitedly gathered around the plane, but this time Dennis was approached by two men carrying a live chicken. One had the bird by the feet and the other had it by the head and before either the chicken or Dennis knew what was happening, the fowl's head and body parted company. The man with the flopping chicken corpse began swinging it over his head, round and round with predictable results. Dressed in a freshly pressed white shirt, Dennis was splattered with chicken blood as were the plane and the villagers. When Dennis asked what that meant, a native explained that for generations, the splattered blood signified an end to suffering. To the people of Zaire, the Cessna promised hope and help of all kinds. In a graphic way, the splattered blood of that chicken, signifying the end of suffering, was a fitting reminder of the blood Christ shed to end the suffering of a world caught in the grip of sin. CHRIST, BLOOD OF The Blood of an OvercomerDate: 2/2007.101 Hot Illustrations 1 P42 Louis Pasteur's coworker in the demonstration of what used to be called the germ theory was Dr. Felix Ruh, a Jewish doctor in Paris. The physician's granddaughter had died of black diphtheria and Dr. Ruh, vowing he would find out what had killed his granddaughter, locked himself in his laboratory for days. he emerged with a fierce determination to prove with his colleague Louis Pasteur, that the germ theory was more than a theory. The medical association had disapproved of Pasteur and had succeeded in getting him exiled but he did not of far from Paris. He hid in the forest and erected a laboratory in which to continue his forbidden research. Twenty beautiful horses were led out into the forest to the improvised laboratory. Scientists, doctors and nurses came to watch the experiment. Ruh opened a steel vault and took out a large pail filled with black diphtheria germs, which he had cultured carefully for months. There were enough germs in that pail to kill everyone in France. The scientist went to each horse and swabbed its nostrils, tongue, throat and eyes with the deadly germs. Every horse except one developed a terrific fever and died. Most of the doctors and scientists wearied of the experiment and did not remain for what they thought would be death of the remaining horse. For several more days this final horse lingered, lying pathetically on the ground. While Ruh, Pasteur and several others were sleeping on cots in the stables, the orderly on duty had been instructed to awaken the scientists should there be any change in the animal's temperature during the night. About 2 am, the temperature showed a half degree decrease and the orderly awakened Dr. Ruh. By morning the thermometer had dropped two more degrees. By night the fever was entirely gone and the horse was able to stand, eat and drink. Then Dr. Ruh took a sledgehammer and struck that beautiful horse a deathblow between the eyes. The scientist drew all the blood from veins of this animal that had developed the black diphtheria but had overcome it. The scientists drove as fast as they could to the municipal hospital in Paris. They forced their way past the superintendent and the guards and went into the ward where three hundred babies lay, segregated to die from black diphtheria. With the blood of the horse, they forcibly inoculated every one of the babies. All but three lived and recovered completely. They were saved by the blood of an overcomer. Application: We have been saved by the blood of an overcomer. Jesus Christ overcame sin and death on the Cross and by His blood we are saved (Ephesians 1:7).
Directory: cfs-filesystemfile.ashx -> key -> CommunityServer.Components.PostAttachments CommunityServer.Components.PostAttachments -> General editors john baillie key -> Eternity! Eternity key -> Annotated Bibliography key -> [The first seventeen verses of Matthew consists of Jesus' family tree CommunityServer.Components.PostAttachments -> Apr 24 2011 dcfc english Worship [The Master & The Disciple] Luke 24: 28-36 CommunityServer.Components.PostAttachments -> A box of treasure by beverly carradine key -> The life and times — of — benjamin franklin, — by — joseph franklin, and key -> The flying inn Download 1.22 Mb. Share with your friends:
|