|
 |
Hello everyone!
I am sure you have all
heard about sport being a god.
Is the Bible against sport? No,
by no means. Paul says, "Bodily
exercise profits a little." 1 Timothy 4.8. The word 'exercise' means
gymnastic exercise, to train, to practice.
Also Paul speaks often
about the games of his day. He speaks of training, 1 Corinthians 9:25; of being
a competitor in athletics, 2 Timothy 2:5; of running, 1 Corinthians 9.24; of
wrestling, Ephesians 6..12 and several
others.
Notice, Paul said bodily
exercise 'profits a little'. For a little time, and in a small way. So sport and exercise should not be the most
important thing in our lives. We should care for our bodies and seek to keep
fit, but we should not think of this as the greatest thing in our lives.
Now some people do think
this way. One person wrote a book
called, 'The Gods of Sport'. Some sportsmen and women are almost worshipped and
are sometimes called 'god'. Also sport
and fitness becomes a kind of religion to some people. They live for sport.
Their whole interest and desire is for some sport. And some sportsmen make their chosen sport their idol. One man called his life story, 'Cricket my
life’.
However, in our lives
the Lord should be first, and other things have second place. How sad it is when sport becomes our 'God'.
For every person sport
ends in a few years, but those who have Christ and His grace will live forever
in heaven.
In Germany there is a large forest called
the Black Forest. Many years ago there
was a gang of robbers who had their hideout in this forest. They would meet
there to plan their raid to rob houses,
shops of nearby villages and coaches as they travelled along the roads. Then they would return to their homes until
their next raid.
One
evening they held up a coach and robbed all the goods on the coach. The terrified passengers could only watch as
they took away all their possessions.
The
robbers returned to their hiding place, and as they usually did, they then
divided all the stolen goods among themselves.
One man conducted an auction; he held up each item and asked who wanted
it and what they would pay for it.
Among the
stolen items was a Bible. The man held
it up and said some foul things about it. “Why don’t you read us a chapter?”
called one of the men. All the rest
agreed. Then with a pretended holy
voice he read a chapter.
All the
men were amused, but the oldest and most wicked of the gang sat silent and
listened to every word. The passage
that was read was the same one that this man’s father had read thirty years
before at family worship; the very morning he had left home.
He had
fled from home to escape capture by the police and had never returned. The words of the passage brought back all his
old memories. In his mind he could see
his mother at the table, and his brothers and sisters, and remembered how his
father had asked God to bless and protect them all. He had rarely thought of his family or of the Bible, but now it
all seemed to come back to him.
He was so
deeply absorbed in thought that he did not hear the laughter and mocking of his
companions. At last one man slapped him
on the back and said, “Come on old dreamer, what will you give for this book? You need it more than any of us; you are the
greatest sinner under heaven.” “So I am”, replied the man, “give me the book, I
will pay for it.”
The next
morning the robbers separated and returned to their homes, but the man with the
Bible went away to a lonely place,
and there he spent the
whole day searching the Bible and confessing his sins to God. He read through John’s gospel and found the
words of Christ, “Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out,” (6:37)
and also Hebrews 7:25 “He is able to save to the uttermost all them that come
unto God by Him.” These words gave him a glimmer of light. He spent the whole
night in prayer, grieving over his wicked life.
The next
day he went to the nearest village where he found a minister. He told him his whole story, of his wicked
life and how he had read the Bible, and now wanted to change his life. He asked the minister to take him to the
nearest police station where he gave himself up.
The police
heard his story, and he was brought to trial, but because of his sincerity and
change of heart, he was given a short sentence and then released.
The same
day that he gave himself up to the police, the rest of the gang were captured
by the soldiers, and all of them were put to death for their crimes.
A Christian man
heard of the man’s story and offered him a job. He proved to be a faithful man and a great blessing to his
employer and those who knew him. He did
not live a long life, but he died praising God for His great mercy, in sending
His Son into the world ‘to save sinners of whom he was chief’. 1 Timothy 1:15.
Have a laugh
Pure
chicken: Why did the farmer wash all his chicken’s mouths out with soapy
water? Because of their fowl language.
Wrong
remedy:
Mr Ed was told he should be on a seafood diet. However, he misunderstood the instructions and thought the doctor
said, ‘seefood diet’. (see food and eat
it)
Hair
raising:
One man claimed to have wavy hair.
Every time he combed it, a number of hairs waved him goodbye.
Very
crabby: Doctor: “How did those tablets effect you that I gave you
last visit?” Patient: “Well doctor, I
have been walking sideways a lot since I have been taking them – like a
crab.”
Doctor: “Well, I did warn you that there were side
effects!”
Which age? Did you hear about the seven ages of man?
Spills; Drills;
Thrills; Bills; Ills;
Pills and Wills. What is your
age?
Cat-astrophy: “I am very sorry, I just ran
over your cat.” Said a motorist to his neighbour. “Can I replace it?” The neighbour looked the motorist up and
down and said, “I don’t think so. I doubt if you could catch rats like our cat
could.”
Elevating
thought: An American tourist walked into a hotel lobby in London and
pushed the button for the lift. “The
lift will be down shortly.” Said an
employee at the hotel. “The lift! You
mean the elevator?” replied the tourist.
“No, I mean the lift.” Replied the Englishman, annoyed at the American’s
arrogance.
“I
think I should know what it is called,” snapped the American. “After all, elevators were invented in the
United States.” “Perhaps that is so,”
replied the Englishman, “but the language was invented here in England.
Short comments
Evil for good: During the persecuting times in Europe, a
Christian was being pursued by a man who sought to arrest him and bring him to
trial for his faith in Christ. While he
was being chased his pursuer tried to walk over a frozen river but fell through
the ice.
The Christian
stopped and rescued the man from drowning.
The man immediately arrested the Christian; he was later tried and burnt
at the stake.
Wise
approach: A Christian, who sought every
opportunity to speak to others about Christ, heard a man blaspheme God in a
dreadful way. The Christian’s friends
advised him not to go near the man because he might become violent.
The Christian
waited a few minutes then walked up to the man in a friendly manner and shook
his hand. “Did I hear you speaking
about my father?” he asked. “I don’t
even know your father and have never met him.” the man replied. “Well”, replied the Christian, “let me tell
you who he is and what he is like.”
He quietly said
that God was his Father, and a very loving Father. He quoted John 3:16 to show God’s love. “For God so loved the
world….” The man hung his head in shame
and said, “You know that is the very text my mother used to teach me?” The blasphemer was convicted of his sin and
a short time later, by God’s grace, he was a changed man. All of us should ask God for wisdom to speak
for Him.
The Holy
Spirit: There are seven types or emblems of the Holy Spirit in the
Bible that describe His work. WATER –
cleansing, refreshing, fertilizing, freely given. FIRE – purifying, illuminating, searching. WIND – powerful, not under man’s control,
refreshing. OIL – healing, comforting,
soothing, setting apart for God. RAIN
and DEW – abundant, free, refreshing, penetrating. A DOVE – gentle, meek, innocent, pure. A SEAL – stamp of approval, securing, showing what is genuine.
Some
believe that these seven types of the Holy Spirit is what is referred to in
Revelation 4:5 where we read of the seven Spirits of God. (The seven-fold
Spirit of God.)
COME AS YOU ARE
An artist wished to paint a
picture of the Prodigal Son, of whom we read in Luke chapter 15. He searched for a suitable person to
paint. One day he met a tramp. His clothes were tattered and filthy, his
hair was long and his face was unclean.
Here was just the man he was looking for. He offered him some money and asked him to
come to his studio the next day. The
man readily accepted the offer.
At the
agreed time, the man arrived at the studio, but the artist hardly recognised
him, his face was washed, his hair combed, he had borrowed some better clothes,
so as to make himself look the best he could.
“I have no use for you dressed like this and clean,” said the artist.
“You should have come just as you were, then I could have painted you as the
prodigal son.”
Many
people are like that man spiritually.
They think that Christ wants them to change their lives and become
self-righteous, before they come to Him.
But the Lord wants us to come to Him just as we are, with all our sin
and need. He has promised to wash away
our sins and to clothe us with His own robes of righteousness.
Self-righteousness
hinders us from coming to the Lord more than our sins do. We must confess our sins and come to the
Lord Jesus and ask Him to change us in our hearts.
Are you trying to make yourself better before you come to
Christ?
Taught by a Caterpillar
Titus
Salt became a multi-millionaire. He
began his life very poor and worked in a factory, but he had an inventive mind.
He developed methods for processing wool and later produced a famous woolen
cloth, so he became one of the richest woolen manufacturers in England.
He
even built a model town for his workers and called it ‘Saltair’, after
himself. Later he was elected to
parliament and because of his ideas and inventions that helped the whole woolen
industry, Queen Victoria made him a Baron and he was called Sir Titus Salt.
But Titus was not happy. All his money and possessions did not give
him true peace and contentment in his heart.
One Sunday he
went to church. At that service the
preacher told how he watched a caterpillar climb a painted stick in his garden.
The
caterpillar
climbed to the top of the stick and then swung
its body around trying to find some green
leaf to feed on, but it was disappointed.
Then slowly the caterpillar climbed down the stick, and crawled to
another painted stick, and did the same thing all over again. This happened
several times and at last the caterpillar wandered away.
“There are many painted sticks
in this world,” said the preacher. “There are the painted sticks of pleasure,
of money, of possessions, of fame and power.
All these call to men, and say, “Climb me, and you will find
peace.” “Climb me and you will find
true joy.” “Climb me and you will find
the real meaning of life.” But these
are all painted sticks. They look nice
but are lifeless and cannot give any real satisfaction to our hearts.”
The
very next day the wealthy Baron visited the preacher. “Sir” he said, “I was in
your congregation last night, and heard what you said about the painted sticks.
I want to tell you that I have been climbing them, and today I am a weary
man. Tell me, is there rest for a weary
millionaire?”
The
preacher was very glad to tell him of the Lord Jesus who said, “Come unto Me
all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Matthew
11:28. Sir Titus Salt, who had sought
peace and satisfaction from all that this world has to offer, and had not found
it, bowed in prayer and faith before the Lord and found not only rest from his
heavy burden, but salvation and forgiveness through faith in Christ.
******************************************************
Aug SPY 2
Unheeded Warning
Julius Caesar, the Roman general, was warned
of a plot to kill him, but he took no notice.
Before he left home, his wife told him of a dreadful dream she had that
night, that some men would murder him.
As Caesar stepped into his chariot to ride to
the Senate on March 15th 44BC, he was handed a letter with the word
‘Urgent’ written on the front. This
letter informed Caesar that a number of men plotted to kill him. Caesar was too full of thoughts about other
things that he did not open the letter. He thrust it into his belt.
As he entered into the Forum, a number of men attacked him with
daggers. One of these men was Brutus, a
man whose life Caesar had spared from death and had made him a very close
friend. His treachery filled Caesar with grief. His last words were, ‘Not you also Brutus?’ Caesar foolishly refused to heed warnings,
and so was slain.
God’s word has many warnings to us all about sin and God’s
judgments. We are warned about
everlasting punishment in hell for all those who do not repent and believe on
Christ. But many people do not think
about these things at all. How sad it
is to die without God’s mercy and salvation?
“How shall we
escape if we neglect so great salvation.”
Hebrew 2:3.
****************************************
A SCRAP OF
NEWSPAPER
Thomas Spurgeon, a son of the famous preacher,
Charles Spurgeon, wrote to his parents from New Zealand with some good news,
after he had been in Australia.
While in Melbourne he heard how a man had been
saved and come to know the Lord by reading one of Charles Spurgeon’s sermons
which was printed in the newspaper. At that time a sermon was printed each week
in the newspaper.
This man found a scrap of paper on the floor
of an old hut, and having nothing to read, he sat down and read the sermon that
was printed. The sermon was, ‘Loving
Advice to Anxious Seekers’- Lamentations 3:25, “The Lord is good to the soul
that seeketh Him”.
The man read the sermon and was taught the way of salvation
through faith in Christ. He sought the
Lord and found mercy.
He kept this scrap of paper as a special treasure
while he lived. Before he died in
hospital, he gave it to a Christian worker, who in turn gave it to Thomas
Spurgeon, who then wrote and told his parents of this man’s conversion.
Sadly, newspapers
no longer print good sermons as once they did.
Let us be diligent to spread the gospel wherever we have an opportunity.
SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
Youth
magazine
48
Abbott Street,
Launceston. Tasmania 7250