Miracle - Reaching Out (Michael)
I had an amazing night last night and I wanted to share part of it with everybody so they can know that God still moves. Last night I was watching the movie, Facing the Giants. I strongly recommend that movie to everyone. At the end of the movie, I was just swamped with the presence of God. I started praying and thanking him for everything. That went on for a while and I put on some music to do a little worship. I started thinking and at first i thought it was just me getting distracted but, wait to hear the rest of the story before you decide what was really going on. I started thinking about how some of my brothers and sisters in Christ over here have taken issue with some of the people that I hang out with. I Then started thinking about Jesus and the people he surrounded himself with, for instance: tax collectors, prostitutes, etc. After I finished my little worship service I got out my bible and started reading where I left off in Luke chapter six.
When I finished that, I started reading the other book I'm studying right now called: “One Thing You Can’t Do in Heaven” by Mark Cahill. As I was reading I noticed a scripture that he quoted and it looked so familiar. I had just read it. The scripture was: Luke 6:22-23. It states, "Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of Man's sake. Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy:for, behold your reward is great in heaven: for in like manner did their fathers unto the prophets." Now it was pretty obvious that Jesus was trying to get something through but I still didn’t have the whole message. I read on in the book and he started talking about some of the times he has reached out and saw fruit. He started talking about ministering to prostitutes and how that always ruffles feathers. He then goes on talking to a woman whose feathers he had ruffled. He asks her if she shares the good word with prostitutes. Her answer is “no.” He then asks about her family. She answered “no.” Then he asked about her church and she responded ”no.” Then who is giving them the message? He then states something that rings so familiar to me. He says, "It was ok for Jesus to be a friend to tax collectors, prostitutes, and sinners, but it is apparently not ok for us.” As if that wasn't enough to get my attention, there's more. After I finished my chapter of that book, I picked up my bible study booklet that we're going over today. I hadn't looked at the booklet until that moment. I opened my bible to the passage specified and what do you know, it's the scripture at Levi's house right after his calling where Jesus is eating with the tax collectors, prostitutes and sinners. The passage is Mark 2:13-17, I suggest you read it. So was all this just a coincidence? That's highly doubtful. What are the chances of all that happening in order? Not very high. What can we take from this? I think Mark Cahill said it best, “there are only three things that can happen when you share your faith the person can accept Christ, you can plant a seed, or they can reject you and God.” On the surface it may look like only two of those are winning situations, but after looking at Luke 6:22-23, we see that even that has a winning outcome. So what excuse do we have not to share our faith? The other thing that we learn is everybody deserves to hear the Word of God, regardless of who they are. The healthy do not need a physician, the people who know where they are don’t need a map. Regardless of what others may say, we as Christians need to spread the Word to the lost. That is the great commission given to us by our Lord Jesus Christ.
When I finished that, I started reading the other book I'm studying right now called: “One Thing You Can’t Do in Heaven” by Mark Cahill. As I was reading I noticed a scripture that he quoted and it looked so familiar. I had just read it. The scripture was: Luke 6:22-23. It states, "Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of Man's sake. Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy:for, behold your reward is great in heaven: for in like manner did their fathers unto the prophets." Now it was pretty obvious that Jesus was trying to get something through but I still didn’t have the whole message. I read on in the book and he started talking about some of the times he has reached out and saw fruit. He started talking about ministering to prostitutes and how that always ruffles feathers. He then goes on talking to a woman whose feathers he had ruffled. He asks her if she shares the good word with prostitutes. Her answer is “no.” He then asks about her family. She answered “no.” Then he asked about her church and she responded ”no.” Then who is giving them the message? He then states something that rings so familiar to me. He says, "It was ok for Jesus to be a friend to tax collectors, prostitutes, and sinners, but it is apparently not ok for us.” As if that wasn't enough to get my attention, there's more. After I finished my chapter of that book, I picked up my bible study booklet that we're going over today. I hadn't looked at the booklet until that moment. I opened my bible to the passage specified and what do you know, it's the scripture at Levi's house right after his calling where Jesus is eating with the tax collectors, prostitutes and sinners. The passage is Mark 2:13-17, I suggest you read it. So was all this just a coincidence? That's highly doubtful. What are the chances of all that happening in order? Not very high. What can we take from this? I think Mark Cahill said it best, “there are only three things that can happen when you share your faith the person can accept Christ, you can plant a seed, or they can reject you and God.” On the surface it may look like only two of those are winning situations, but after looking at Luke 6:22-23, we see that even that has a winning outcome. So what excuse do we have not to share our faith? The other thing that we learn is everybody deserves to hear the Word of God, regardless of who they are. The healthy do not need a physician, the people who know where they are don’t need a map. Regardless of what others may say, we as Christians need to spread the Word to the lost. That is the great commission given to us by our Lord Jesus Christ.
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