By Joe Widick
I have recently read that the population of the world is over 6 billion people. When I read that, I had to write it down to see how many zeroes that included. 6,000,000,000 people who all have a story to tell. Some live adverse poverty, while others live a life of luxury. 6 billion people who wakeup each day to a life filled with challenges, opportunities and blessings. 6 billion is a number that simply boggles my mind. I want to share some thoughts about those 6 Billion people.
That’s six billon people who God will hold accountable for their attitudes and actions. “…the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones to judge everyone…” (Jude 14b-15a).
It six billion people who will die in their sins unless they know the Lord. “I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am the one I claim to be, you will indeed die in your sins.” (John 8:24)
That’s 6 billion people whose lives need to continually turn toward God. “In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him for the dead.” (Acts 17:30-31
Remember God is unprejudiced in his dealings with all these 6 billion people. He stands ready to welcome and accept any and all who come to him. “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. This is how we know that we love the children of God; by loving God and carrying out his commands.” (I John 5:1-2)
It is 6 billion people who need the powerfully good news that Jesus Christ cares for them, has died for them and lives even now for them. “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes; first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.” (Romans 1:16)
6 billion. Quite a sum! What difference can one, like you or me, make among so many. MUCH!! “…open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.” (John 4:35). “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” (Matthew 9: 37-38).
Let each of us plant the see and water it. Share your faith, live it! And allow God to give what increase he will.
Prayer Thought: Thank you Lord for giving us an opportunity to make a difference in the lives of others.
By Joe Widick
A couple of years ago, we had one of our missionaries, Carlos Zuluaga staying with us. The time was in April when we had the tremendous tornados that touched down so close to us in Gallatin. It was a new experience for Carlos. He didn’t know anything of the destructive nature of tornados. We watched together the news and saw the devastation. It was reported that there was 650 million dollars in damage. There were homes that earlier that day had stood proud and strong. Possessions that had been treasured as being invaluable were blown all over the community, most of which would never be recovered. It was total chaos in a community that only hours before seemed to be a content bed room community of Nashville.
Out of all the ruin and destruction surfaced the story of the Hawkins family. Our hearts were touched with how Amy placed her body over her sons Jair and Cole, saving their lives while permanently paralyzing her. All was lost! No for what was most important was still there. Jair and Cole were spared. The mother and father were still able to talk with and play with their children. Some people don’t have that. For them nothing else was really important.
Often it takes times of tragedy to remind us what really matters in life. When things are going well, we can easily get preoccupied with what we own. We become tied to so many nonessential, unimportant things. We tend to grow overly concerned about cars, houses, furniture, appliances, clothes, and countless other trappings of modern life. But when life is reduced to the essentials, as it was in the case of the tornados that ripped through the middle Tennessee area, we recall again that life itself is enough reason to praise God.
The psalmist penned these words in Psalms 30:4; “Sing praise to the Lord, you saints of His and give thanks at the remembrance of His holy name.” Shouldn’t each of us make this a practice with our lives? When was the last time you stopped to say thank you? When was the last time you looked beyond the material possessions that you have? When you think of all that is good; give thanks to God. For truly God has been abundantly good to each and every one of us.
Prayer Thought: Be with our teens and parents who have traveled to Cedar Point.
By Joe Widick
I recently read of a news letter published by the Procrastinators’ Club of America. This news letter is printed every so often and is free to members of the organization. In this particular issue the following was found; “Please forgive us this one time, but the president’s message, which was planned to appear in this space, missed our late deadline, and we promise to make every effort to get a message prepared in time for our next issue. If and when it comes out, provided we’re not pushed or rushed into it and end up with a message as inferior as this one would have been.”
When we think of procrastination, we can sometimes laugh at the antics of those who put things off. On other occasions they are extremely serious. Maybe you remember the story of Lot in Genesis 19. This account reveals that a delayed response to God’s commands is serious business. When the Lord told Lot to get his family out of Sodom and run for his life, he acted appropriately at first (vs. 14). Later he lingered in the city until the angels of God grabbed his hand and took him out (vs. 16). If the Lord had not mercifully overruled Lot’s procrastination, he and his entire family would have been destroyed. Most of us remember the words of King Agrippa to the apostle Paul; “Almost you persuade me to become a Christian”
Do you and I ever find ourselves guilty of putting things off? We know what it is the Lord wants us to do, but too many times we find ourselves saying that tomorrow will be a better day. Have you found yourself listening to one of Wayne’s lessons and say to yourself; he was talking to me. I need to be busy doing those things. Several months ago Wayne presented a lesson on the importance of us being ambassadors for Christ. This lesson was tied in with meeting and greeting people in our neighborhood. None of us would say we don’t need to be ambassadors, yet few have decided to take the step and meet new neighbors. September 16 is quickly approaching and we want to invite people with no church home to visit us. Are we putting this off? Below is a round TUIT. I am certain most of us have seen these before. Prayerfully this article will help each of us to put aside our excuses and get busy being ambassadors.
Prayer Thought: Help me to be an “ambassador for Christ”
By Joe Widick
Maybe you have heard of him, but for most, we would have no idea of who he was, until recent events that took place. Even then, we probably would not have heard his name. Richard Liggett has made coffins for the past couple of decades or more. They weren’t expensive or ornate. He and a crew of men who worked with him built coffins from birch plywood, lined them with foam padding covered with fabric, and put brass handles on the side. A cross typically adorned the top. The total cost of each coffin was a modest $215.
Richard became known when Ruth Graham passed away recently. She was placed in one of these simple coffins. A matching coffin has already been made, purchased, and stored away for her husband Billy Graham. At first thought, we would have expected very ornate coffins for these two well known personalities. The press of course is always looking for any and every opportunity for a story. Finding Richard Liggett for an interview was impossible, because he passed away of cancer in March of this year. He died as an inmate at the Louisiana State Penitentiary. He was 31 years into a life sentence for second-degree murder when he died. He had been able to turn his life around in prison and shared the gospel with fellow inmates. The Grahams’ son, Franklin, saw Liggett’s work on a visit to Louisiana’s penitentiary at Angola and was struck by its simple beauty. Before he passed away Liggett said the most profound thing he ever did was build coffins for the Grahams. In the grand scheme of all that goes on, that seems to be such a small matter.
Do we find that sometimes “little things” don’t matter? Seldom get noticed? Don’t make a difference? So why should we shrink back from a less-than-spectacular change to do something kind or holy or encouraging? Isn’t the Bible filled with little things that proved to be tremendously important matters. There was a lad whose sack lunch was put into the hands of Jesus and miraculously multiplied into food enough for 5000 with a dozen baskets of scraps and leftovers picked up afterward. Was it not Jesus who said “And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is k known to be my disciple, truly I tell you, that person will certainly be rewarded” (Matthew 10:42. There seems to be a prevailing view to the effect that only the big and splashy, noisy and expensive things matter. It just isn’t so. There is one thing that each of us always need to remember. If no one else sees or cares, God does. And because God cares, that is all that really matters.
Prayer Thought: Continue our prayer for Nick and Amanda McNabb and all the teens and parents they will work with.
By Joe Widick
As one who loves history, I have found the heritage of our country to be an exciting time. It was a period of change, a period that called for bravery and determination. In 1776, the thirteen British colonies in North America protested the limitations placed on them by the king of England. They engaged in a struggle that gave birth to a brand-new republic. The infant nation known as the United States of America soon adopted that now famous document known as the Declaration of Independence. One can only imagine the thrill and excitement that swept through this new country back in 1776.
A little over 2,000 years ago, our Lord Jesus cried out on the cross, “It is finished.” In once sense of the word, He was proclaiming the believers “declaration of independence.” All of humanity was under the tyranny of sin and death. God had a plan for us. His plan for our freedom was to have Christ, the sinless One take our place on Calvary and to be willing to die for our sins. With this act, God’s righteous demands were satisfied. He now sets free for all eternity all that will put their trust in Him.
The apostle Paul wrote; “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us” (Galatians 3:13). Each of us, as children of God have the assurance and promise of Romans 8 1-2; “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus…For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.” Finally Paul urges all who have been redeemed to “stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free.”
Like each of you, I am thankful to God for the freedom I enjoy as a citizen of the United States. I am thankful for all who have gone before me, fighting for and defending these freedoms. I pray that in the future that there will be no need for men and women to fight for these freedoms. Reality however tells me that there will always be a need for these freedoms to be defended. But above and beyond all of this, I like you, can praise God for the freedom that is found in Christ.
I am most thankful for the true freedom that I have in Christ Jesus. Had He not been willing to take the journey to Calvary, where would I be but in bondage. May each of us share the story of love that sent Christ to the cross so that we could enjoy true freedom.
Prayer Thought: Pray for our men and women who serve our country daily and find themselves in harms way.
