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by Dr. Philip G. Samaan, Like Master Like Disciple There's something I got from a friend, it's a prayer, that goes this way: Tell us about our needs for Jesus, and how to follow His example from day to day. It says: "So far today, God, I've done all right. I haven't gossiped, and I haven't lost my temper, I haven't been greedy or grumpy. I haven't been nasty or self-centered. Lord, I'm really pleased with myself. I'm glad about that. But in a few minutes, God, I'm going to get out of bed and then I'm going to need a lot of help. Thank you." And indeed, we all need a lot of help from the Lord. Not only the minute we get out of bed, but in the real world. When we go to work Monday morning. Not just right now, but in the real world where the rubber meets the road, we need the Lord. People, today, need the Lord. Our text for this sermon is found in Luke 6:40. These are the words of Jesus. I love the words of Jesus. I love the words of the Bible. They give us life. They energize our lives. In my Bible these words are red, indicating the words of Jesus. You know, in research as you ask students to do research, and you look at their footnotes to see what authorities they have cited. In this situation here, the authority is Jesus. This is a reference: Jesus, the words of Jesus. He knows what He's talking about. And in this verse He's telling us how much we need Him, how much we need the Lord, teaching us how to become like Him, in being alive spiritually, in making an impact on people's lives as we reach out to them from day to day. Here are the words of Christ, Luke 6:40 A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will become like his teacher. Jesus is basically making three main points in this verse. He's establishing the wonderful reality that He is the leader to be followed. Students follow the teacher. They learn from the teacher. Parents guide their children. Sometimes in this society, unfortunately, we have a reversal of roles. Sometimes kids act like their parents, and their parents act like kids. This text tells us that Jesus is the teacher. He's the expert. He acts like a teacher. And we as students act like students by coming to Him, willing to learn. Submitting ourselves to Him. Opening our hearts to Him so we may receive willingly the instructions. Only by beholding Him, He says, will we become changed in His image. This first point we establish the fact that Jesus is the leader. He is the expert. He is the trainer of all of us. Everyone, anyone, who is fully trained by Him. My friends, the great blessing we have is each one of us, if he or she, is submissive to Christ, is qualified to enter the school of Christ. And the school of Christ is much, much better than Harvard, than Yale, than even Southern Adventist University. Now, for these schools, you really have to prove that you're qualified to be accepted. But with Jesus, our greatest qualification is not a high Grade Point Average. It's not a great work of research. Our greatest recommendation, a qualification, to be accepted by Jesus as His students is simply sense our need for Him, and open our hearts to Him, and say, "Lord, I'm submissive to you. Please train me. I really want to be a trainee. I don't want to go ahead of you. I don't want to be above you. I want you to be above all. I want you to be in charge. I want you to train me. And I'm simply the trainee." A disciple is not above his teacher. The teacher is the leader. Jesus is the expert. Aren't you glad that Jesus knows what He's doing? He knows what he's doing and in this confusing world. Jesus know what He's doing, and we feel safe and confident to follow Him. We don't feel this confidence to follow human leaders. That's what He says in the previous verse. Very interesting to look at the verse before verse forty: verse 39 and this really clinches the point, and this really helps us appreciate the value of having the right leader. Of having the expert teacher. Of having the One Who knows what he's doing. I'm so glad in this world Somebody know what He's doing because so many people today are still floundering. They don't know what they're doing. Some of them think they do. How much we need Jesus to guide us, to lead us. It says in verse thirty-nine: And He spoke a parable to them: "Can the blind lead the blind? Will they not both fall into the ditch?" Of course. There's so much blindness in this world. There are people who are blind and don't know it. But Jesus is the Light of the world. He is the light of the universe. There is no darkness in Him at all. And He know what He is doing. He knows where he's going. He knows the way because He's the Way and the Truth and the Light. My friends, we'll never fall in the ditch when we follow Him. And that's why verse forty makes so much sense as after He paints a picture of darkness, of blindness, of falling into ditches on either side of the road. He says, "Now I am the teacher. I want to train you. I want to fully train you gradually. Work with me. Open your heart to me. Be a trainee. You could qualify simply by opening your heart to Me." As a result of Jesus' training we become like Him. Let's read it again and see as we read it these three points Jesus was to convey to us in these words. A disciple is not above his teacher, In other words, Jesus is above all, He's the leader, He's the Trainer. Number 2. Everyone, anyone, you and I who open our hearts to Him become the trainees and He will fully train us. As a result of that... The result of what? These two components of cooperation between Jesus and us, between the divine and the human... this is the cooperation: He's the trainer. He's more than anxious to work with us and train us. We are trainees who open ourselves to Him. What happens with this combination is dynamic. This combination is dynamite. There is no limit to usefulness to one who put self aside, unites himself with the power of God. What the result? We will be like the teacher. I tell you my friends, and I know you agree with me, that the greatest spiritual product we can have in McDonald Church, the greatest spiritual accomplishment is to help people by the grace of God to become like Jesus. Can you think of a greater goal? Can you think of a greater purpose while we exist in this world but to become like Jesus and to help other people to become like Jesus? A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will become like his teacher. A boy wanted to spend some time with his father, when his father came home from work. His father was tired and stretched out, and for relaxation his father watched the news on television and read the newspaper. It was all news about crime and wars. That's certainly one way people use to relax. This boy wanted to spend some time with him. But the father was giving him different projects to keep him occupied. He finish those projects and came to his father because he wanted to spend some time with his father. Finally his father knew his son took a long time putting jigsaw puzzles together. So he took a map of the world and he cut this map into pieces like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle and he mixed them together. And not knowing that his boy knew about this map, but knew in the back of this map there is the beautiful face of Jesus. The boy was familiar with that face. He was familiar with the colors, with the lines. And so as his father gave him the pieces of the world, he said, "Son, put the broken pieces of the world together." It was a formidable for the little boy and the father thought now he could relax for an hour or two by himself. Well, his son took these pieces and instead of being preoccupied with the broken pieces of the world, beheld the face of Jesus. And he looked at the pieces that compose the face of Jesus and he put the pieces of the face of Jesus together, and glued it together. Then he went to his father and said, "Father, there it is." The father said, "How could you have done this in such a short time? How could you have put the pieces of the broken map together so soon?" "Daddy, I didn't look at the broken world. I looked at the face of Jesus. When I put the face of Jesus together the world came together." What I am saying to you here as we focus this Sabbath on following the model of Jesus is when we focus on Jesus and follow His example the broken pieces of our lives are put together. Please, let's not focus on the brokenness we have but let's focus on the face of Jesus. When we focus on the face of Jesus then the brokenness takes care of itself because Jesus is there, and Jesus is center. This statement is a powerful statement. From the book Education by EG White, page 297 which says, "When once the gaze is fixed upon Jesus, life finds its center." Does your life have a center at this moment? Does my life have a center? Do our lives have a focal point where we can see our lives integrated around this focal point, around this center. What is our center? What is our focal point today? Even at this moment the Holy Spirit is speaking to us. Is it Jesus? My friends, only Jesus, only the face of Jesus can put the broken pieces together. Nothing else, nobody else can do that. If you think anything else, anybody else can do that, please give up right now. I doesn't work. Only the face of Jesus works as far as putting our lives together. The late Frank Sinatra was known for a song, I Did it My Way. That seems to describe our culture as a people. Independence, we're self- sufficient. We want to do things our own way. And that also is a reason why this nation is so great. Because we take initiative. We work hard. We're creative. And this is wonderful. When it come to the spiritual realm we need to do it Christ's way. We need to give up doing it our way and do it Christ's way. That's why Ellen White (EG White) says in the book, Ministry of Healing page 143, "Christ's method (Christ's way) alone will give true success in reaching people." There's another song I learned when I first came to this country years ago. It goes... "Oh what a wonderful morning. Oh what a beautiful day. I've got this wonderful feeling. Everything's going my way." Sometimes we find happiness by things going our way. My friends, I submit to you that real joy that come from an inner being results from things going Christ's way. So I invite you to follow Christ who's the Way and the Truth and the Life. Let's do it Christ's way! Let's go it Christ's way. Because real fulfillment, real joy come from submitting our selves to the training of Jesus and then becoming like Jesus. He knows the way. He is the way. He knows what he is doing. I'd like you to look up one more text. That is found in Acts 4:13. This is the fulfillment of the prediction of Jesus in Luke 6:40. He said, "if you submit yourselves to me, if you allow Me to fully train you, you will become like Me." Let's find out if the disciples actually became like Jesus. Acts 4:13 gives us the answer. There it says that the Jewish leaders as they looked upon John and Peter ministering, reaching out to people, making an impact on people around them, they took notice of them, they recognized them for something. My friends. let me ask you a question. Are you recognized for something? What are you recognized for? What am I recognized for? When people hear my name. What do they think of when the hear the name, "Adventist," what do they think of? What do people recognize you for? Let me ask in a different way. What would you like to be recognized for? People today are craving recognition. Some would do anything to be recognized. Do you know that? We have this innate need to be recognized, but my friends, there is something that can happen to us as we submit ourselves to Christ, as we sit at His feet, that will take care to this craving for recognition. Why? Because when we experience that the King of the universe, Jesus Christ, recognizes us we need no other recognition. There is peace, there is contentment in the heart because when Jesus recognizes us, what more recognition do we need? And here we have these Jewish leaders recognizing Peter and John for something special. It says that they took notice of them, they recognized them as having been with Jesus. My friends, if we are recognized as having been with Jesus, we must be like Jesus. They did not arrive yet. They're still growing. Because we'll always grow to be more and more like Jesus. But obviously, it was working in their lives and people recognized them as having been with Jesus. I tell you, the greatest recognition we can have, the greatest recognition this church can have is to be recognized as having been with Jesus. Another word I'd like to share with you is the word, "Position." Not only recognition, but position. Also, as human beings, we crave high position. We want people to recognize that as important. But the highest position we can reach is sitting at the feet of Jesus and learning from Jesus. In the biblical culture, sitting at the feet of a teacher, meaning, "you are submissive." You want to be teachable. It's just the opposite of being so willing to stand up on our feet and speak than to sit down and listen. When Jesus speaks, when Jesus teaches we listen. When Jesus comes to share with us His expertise, we allow this wisdom and knowledge to infiltrate our life. There's a statement in the book Thoughts from the Mount of Blessings EG White, I'd just like to summarize quickly: We were told that human nature is always restless. Our nature is ready to express itself always. But when we submit ourselves to Christ, the statement says, there is silence in the soul, there is peace in the soul. We're not anxious anymore to reach the highest place. We're not anxious any more to elbow ourselves and to notice why, because sitting at the feet of Jesus we find our highest position. So again, what's our highest position we can reach? Sitting at the feet of Jesus. My friends, if you have the need or the craving to have a high position, right now, this very second, if we open ourselves to Christ, if we sit at His feet to learn from Him we have already reached the highest position. And if we want recognition in this world, the greatest recognition we can have is to be recognized as having been with Jesus because we are like Jesus. One way to be recognized as having been with Jesus is to diffuse the sweet fragrance of the gospel. When we spend time with Jesus, learning from Jesus, sitting at His feet, then His fragrance is diffused into us. A story is told, in conclusion, that a little girl wanted to give her mother a little gift to please her because when loved her. My friends, witnessing, reaching out to people, must always bring forth our love and devotions to Jesus. So, this little girl wanted to express her love and devotion to her mother. As she was searching for the right gift she thought of giving her mother a flower. So as she walked the fields, she found a beautiful dainty little wild rose. She picked the wild rose. She held it tight in her little hand. She ran to her mother. With excitement she opened her hand to give her mother this beautiful rose. Then she noticed that the rose was crushed. "Mommy, I'm sorry! The rose is broken." But her mother said, "Sweetheart, it's beautiful. It's wonderful. Give me that rose because roses smell much better when they're broken." My friend, let your heart be broken in reaching out to others. Let our hearts be broken like a broken rose, and being humble to sit at the feet of Jesus and say, "Lord Jesus. Forgive me. Finally I'm realizing I'm sitting at your feet in the highest position I can reach. And Lord Jesus, help me to be broken and to know that I don't need any more. To crave recognition in this world because being recognized by you, being recognized by others as having been with you is the greatest recognition." My friends, another rose. The Rose of Sharon was broken on the cross of Calvary. And because of that the sweet fragrance of the good news filled the whole world. The Lord Jesus wants us to join Him. He wants us to learn more about His ways, how to diffuse His fragrance. He wants us to join Him, learn His ways, learn His message, and He invites us to take up little wild roses and allow them to be broken as the Rose of Sharon was broken and so that our lives can be fragrant by His fragrance. And then we can diffuse that fragrance in our lives and our hopes. We will work the church so everyone would smell the sweet fragrance of the Rose of Sharon and give glory to God. As the apostle, Paul, said that in II Corinthians 2:14 and 15, becomes a reality but thanks be to God who in Christ always leads us in this triumphal procession with Jesus our victorious general. And through us he diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge everywhere, so we are the aroma of Christ. May the aroma of the broken Rose of Sharon diffuse your life, and may His fragrance fill your life and my life so that people who see us talk to us, rub shoulder with us, recognize us as indeed having been with Jesus. Opening Hymn: 12 Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee Scripture: Luke 4:40 Closing Hymn: 492 Like Jesus McDonald Road Sermons

by Pastor Donald J Gettys Reactors and the Golden Rule What greater subject than Jesus! I would like to zoom in on one aspect of Jesus Great Character: His self control. Jesus' life was not blown by every wind. Angry mobs could shout as loud as 50 speeding fire trucks yet it didn't shake Him. Mark 15:3-5 The chief priests accused him of many things. So again Pilate asked him, "Aren't you going to answer? See how many things they are accusing you of." But Jesus still made no reply, and Pilate was amazed. In the center of blaring accusations and exaggerated misrepresentations Jesus was a justice of the peace. Peace dwelt within Him. Not even all the whipping, cursing and the spitting inflicted on Him by the frenzied mob could cause Jesus to react to them. We need to be like Jesus. The next time an angry motorist blows his horn at you because you did not instantly go at the change of the traffic light and then he pulls up beside you and yells out and then pulls over in front of you and drives real slow, what should you do? Step on the gas? No, you need to have the mind of Jesus at that point. The patience of the saints. In fact, if you respond by flaring up and getting agitated, do you realize that the other driver is in charge of you. He's controlling you. You don't want that, do you? You want to be controlled by Jesus. That is an opportunity to show kindness! There's an interesting text in Proverbs 16:32 (New Living Translation - NLT) It is better to be patient than powerful; it is better to have self-control than to conquer a city. It is better to be patient than it is to be powerful. Jesus was regulated. When they spat on Him and nailed Him to the cross timbers He did not retaliate against them. Instead, Jesus forgave them. Jesus never once took revenge. Oh that we had more of the self control of Jesus. I read a very interesting sketch of our Savior a magazine called Signs of the Times, "Lift Him Up, by EG White, 6-24-1897. "The Pharisees and Sadducees were always on His track.... All the contempt and bitterness that Christ met day by day could not rob Him of His self-possession. When He was reviled, He reviled not again.... The storm raised by His opponents beat about Him, but He heeded it not." Things can happen to you that are very bad. You can lose a spouse. You can be infringed upon by losing your health. You can have some dreaded disease. Anything can happen to you. But, if you have Jesus Christ in your heart, the tow of you together can handle it. You can. Proverbs 14:29 A patient man has great understanding, but a quick-tempered man displays folly. Verse 30 NLT A relaxed attitude lengthens life. You may notice that I've been encouraging you to use some of the newer versions of the Bible in 1999. I think we should use our Bibles in 1999. A lot of people's Bibles are just like my comb. (Elder Gettys is mostly bald.) Brand new! Mint condition. You don't want a comb like that. You don't want a Bible like that either. Let's use our Bibles in 1999. (That was just a free commercial, okay?) A friend of mine traded at a local gas station. Every time he went in to pay for the gasoline he would smile and politely thank the cashier. His kindness was never acknowledged; the cashier never smiled back. I asked my friend: "Why do you continue to be so nice to him?" My friend said: "Why not? Why should I let him decide how I will act? He is not in charge of me. I'm going to be happy, regardless, because I have Jesus in my heart. I'm going to be the way He wants me to be regardless of how people treat me." So, when people walk into the church and ask, "How are you?" you can answer that you're having a fantastic day because Jesus is living in your heart. That's how that works. Praise God for such an example. My friend acts toward people. He does not react. Most of us react. When we meet someone on the sidewalk and they smile, we probably smile back. But if they do not smile or say hello should we be like them? Do they control our actions? The Bible gives us a golden rule: Matthew 7:12 So in everything, (That's a major word.) do to others what they do to you. Is that what your Bible says? That's the way many of us translate that verse. It actually says, Do to others what you would have them do to you... What do you want people to be doing to you? What do you want somebody to be doing to you? Smiling? Well then, you just smile at everyone. It doesn't matter. The great moral injunction for Christians (the Golden Rule) calls on us to act and not react. We will simply refuse to return incivility with incivility. We are more than responders to the actions of others. We set the pace as Christians for cheerfulness, joy and happiness in the home and workplace, in the classroom, wherever you are. Invite Jesus to come into your heart and be your internal governor. Your center of emotional gravity will become anchored to the solid immovable Rock, Jesus Christ. He can do that for you. He can change you. Only then can you act rather than react to the misdeeds of others. With Jesus in charge of our life, our spiritual temperature no longer gyrates up and down like a jittery yo-yo. Thermometers are at the mercy of the elements reflecting their temperature. But Jesus can make you more like a thermostat, and not a thermometer. Proverbs 19:11 A man's wisdom gives him patience; it is to his glory to overlook an offense. We can overlook them. We can through Jesus Christ. To let another person control whether we shall be nasty or nice, cheerful or sad, is to relinquish control over our own disposition which is ultimately all we possess. Because, really, man's only true possession is his self- possession, his character. We are not responsible for all the things that happen to us each day, but we are accountable for the way we act or react when they come. To really know a person, observe their conduct when they have a flat tire or when confronted with an angry person. Proverbs 25:28 (Clear Word):- A man without self-control is like a city without protection. City walls are broken down. We are vulnerable and likely to fall. We get self control by turning the keys of our life over to Jesus, by surrendering our life to Christ. By inviting Jesus to enter our life and putting Him in charge, His character becomes our character. His sweet disposition will become ours. By inviting Him to enter our life and putting Him in charge of our life. Jesus said: Matthew 5:44 But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you The size of a person is measured by the size of the thing that makes them angry. What it takes to tee them off. Let's suppose someone really blows your mental hard drive and it crashes. Anger would be a typical reaction. Don't get angry. Whoever angers you conquers you. And Christ can help you not to do that. The emptier the pot, the quicker it will boil, so fill your empty life with the powerful presence of God. Dr. Victor Frankl, the bold, courageous, courteous Jew who became a prisoner during the Holocaust, endured years of indignity and humiliation by the Nazis before he was finally liberated. At the beginning of his ordeal, he was marched into a gestapo courtroom. His captors had taken away his home and family, his cherished freedom, his possessions, even his watch and wedding ring. They had shaved his head and stripped his clothing off his body. There he stood before the German high command, under the glaring lights being interrogated and falsely accused. He was destitute, a helpless pawn in the hands of brutal, zealous, prejudiced, men. He had nothing. No, that isn't true. He suddenly realized there was one thing no one could ever take from him -- just one. Do you know what it was? Dr. Frankl realized he still had the power to choose his own attitude. He chose to act in a way that saved his life. No matter what anyone would ever do to him, regardless of what the future held for him, the attitude choice was his to make. Bitterness or forgiveness. To give up or to go on. Hatred or hope. Determination to endure or the paralysis of self-pity. He chose how he would respond to their actions. He responded with kindness. It preserved his soul. And it made all the difference in his life. He remembered the men who walked through the concentration camp comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number; but they offered sufficient proof that everything can be taken from us but one thing: the last of our freedoms to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances. 1 Pet 4:1,2 Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin. As a result, he does not live the rest of his earthly life for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God. Do you see what it says to do here in verse one? It says, "ARM yourselves with the same Attitude that Jesus had." That attitude is like armor. A good Christ-like attitude is like protective armor. That is your protection, like insulation in the cold. Jesus' attitude protects us from all sorts of things that would happen to us. A good Christ-like attitude is protective armor. That's How Jesus could do what He did no this earth. A good Attitude is better than a good education, better than money, better than position. Your attitude is your response to the cards that life deals to you. You cannot change the past, you can't change people, but you can change your reaction to those things that happen to you. Life is ten percent what happens to us and ninety percent how we react to it. Ask Jesus for a good attitude. So, if you're in a situation that isn't working, what should your attitude be? You work on making yourself into all that Christ ca help you to become. Develop your character through Jesus Christ. Dale Carnegie said: "It isn't what you have or who you are or where you are or what you are doing that makes you happy or unhappy. It is how you react to it." Two people can live in the same trailer court, drive the same worn out cars, make the same measly amount of money, and one is happy and the other is miserable. How is that? Because of their attitude. How can you get a new attitude? By surrendering your old attitude to Jesus Christ and asking Him to plant this mind in you that is in Him. I want to be like Jesus, don't you? We can be more like Jesus. Through Jesus Christ you can control how you respond to the wrongs that life dumps upon you. You don't have to lash out at your spouse. You don't have to kick the dog. You don't have to through the cat out the back door. You can respond the way Jesus wants you to respond because Jesus is a permanent resident inside your heart you can turn the other cheek. Luke 6:27-31 But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you. How much more desirable it is to be like Jesus. Only Jesus can unlock the handcuffs of hatred. When Jesus was abused and mistreated, he prayed for His tormentors. He forgave them. He had a heavenly attitude. We need to pray for Jesus' attitude. The late General Douglas MacArthur of World War II vintage wrote something very profound about aging on his seventy-fifth birthday: "In the central place of every heart there is a recording chamber; so long as it receives messages of beauty, hope, cheer, and courage, so long are you young. But when the wires are all down and your heart is covered with the snows of pessimism and the ice of cynicism, and the cold blasts of distrust then, and then only are you grown old." So watch your attitude. Emulate the example of Christ. Philippians 2:5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus. The same? Yes, that's our goal. A real Christian is an odd number, anyway. He feels supreme love for One who he has never seen; talks familiarly every day to Someone he cannot see; expects to go to heaven on the virtue of Another; empties himself in order to be full; admits he is wrong so he can be declared right; goes down in order to get up; is strongest when he is weakest; richest when he is poorest and happiest when he feels the worst. He dies so he can live; forsakes in order to have; gives away so he can keep; sees the invisible, hears the inaudible, and knows that which passeth knowledge. -- A.W. Tozer Have you ever heard a person say, "You've got an attitude problem."? You need to be born again. To be born again means a changed attitude! Ephesians 4:22,23 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds... We can be made new. Our old attitude can actually be replaced with a new and beautiful and positive attitude. "With the right inward attitude, all the problems in the world will not make you a failure. But with the wrong spiritual attitude, all the help in the world will not make you a success." - Warren Deaton "The world is a looking-glass and gives back to every man the reflection of his own face. Frown at it, and it in turn, will look grumpy at you; laugh at it, and with it, and it will be a jolly, kind companion." - William Thackeray Proverbs 23: 7 For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he. I want you to think about Jesus Christ. I want you to ask Jesus to come in and change your heart. There may be somebody sitting here today that will never again hear another sermon. You may go out this week and your life may be ended for some reason. This may be the last sermon you will ever hear. I invite you, I urge you to give your life to Jesus Christ. Give it to Him now! Surrender everything you have to your Savior. And do it now and you will become like our beautiful Jesus. You will have a home in heaven. His righteousness will be yours. Have faith in God, Christ's attitude a sample; Have faith in God, His life was ample; Have faith in God, Our Savior and Example; Have faith dear friend, in God. Opening Hymn: 229 - All hail the power of Jesus Scripture: Matthew 5:43-48 Hymn of Dedication: 326- Open My Eyes That I May See McDonald Road Sermons

by Pastor Kent Crutcher The Living Lamb They've given me ten minutes to explain the Lamb. I don't know how that's going to be done but I'm going to start with the book of Genesis and go all the way to Revelation, I hope. Let's open our Bibles to Genesis 22. Here we find the story of where Abraham is tested. He had been asked by God to sacrifice his son, the son of promise. Isaac, being the young man that he is, has been well trained to trust his father, but as they are nearing the end of their quest, Isaac has a question that has been nagging him, and here he asks it in verse 7. Genesis 22:7,8 Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, "Father?" "Yes, my son" Abraham replied. "The fire and the wood are here," Isaac said, "but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?" Abraham answered, "God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son." And the two of them went on together. "God himself will provide the lamb." If you have a King James Version, I really like that translation, it reads, "God will provide himself a lamb." I've heard many folks and I have myself that show that God was going to provide a lamb Himself. It would be Himself for the cares of this world. But I wondered which would be the most accurate translation so I got out the old Hebrew and got kind of a surprise. I thought, maybe I've forgotten more of this than I thought I had. Because every time I looked up that word, and I looked it up here and there, I kept coming up with the word that means to see instead of to provide. That confused me for quite a while, but then I finally learned that this could be a literal translation. It could be translated "God will see to it that a lamb is provided." He will see to it. It's almost like He is more involved than just providing it. He's going to take charge. He is going to see to it that a lamb would be provided. God will take care of the circumstances. God is in control of salvation. He is not passive. He will see to it. God did not let Abraham and Isaac down. God provided the sacrifice. And God will not let us down. When I worked at summer camp a few years ago, we did a program on Sabbath afternoons called "Walk through the Bible." Here we would lead the kids around the camp to different points. The staff would be in biblical costumes portraying different stories from the scriptures. One particular summer we were doing the story of Abraham and Isaac. We actually had a real live sheep. That was pretty neat. It was hidden back around the hill in a thicket and it had a person back there taking care of it until the time came that it was needed for it. I think that person's name was Rod Lewis (a popular story teller for the children). He did a very good job and just as Isaac was on the altar, and Abraham had his knife lifted up, the word of the Lord would come through, megaphone of course, "Stop!" And at the right time, I don't know how it happened...it happened just right every time that there would be a "Baaaa" come from the thicket. It did kind of sound lie Rod, but it was always right on cue. And Isaac would jump up from the altar and run and get the lamb from the thicket and come and lay it on the altar. Now, usually the lamb didn't like those sticks and he would fidget and fuss a little bit. But I remember one week in which the lamb was lying upon the altar and it didn't fidget a bit. It just lay there so willingly. The kids were amazed, and so were the staff. And then it laid its head over the side of the rock exposing its throat to Abraham's knife. Usually when we went to scene to scene the kids were boisterous and kidding around but after that they were dead silent. They had seen Jesus. And there were more than one tears being shed that day by both staff and kids. And I learned something... I now know why God chose a lamb to represent the way His Son would die. The willing submission that I saw that day from that sheep. Turn to Isaiah 53. Here we find a prophecy as to the way the Lamb of God was to behave. Isaiah 53:7 He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. The Old Testament is full of the imagery of the Savior being like a lamb. It is amazing how few were expecting Him to really be that way. They were looking for something else. It seems fitting that the first ones to behold the true Lamb were shepherds. Then, after the shepherds leave the Lamb is basically ignored for 30 years before He is recognized for who He was. Look at John 1:29, you know the story of John the Baptist baptizing in the wilderness and up walks Jesus. And without hesitation John looks over and here in verse 29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" John saw Jesus and recognized the Lamb. The lamb-like characteristics of Jesus seem to be seen most clearly during the closing hours of His life as He is arrested, tried in a kangaroo court, beaten, ridiculed, and sentenced to death. Here, He seems to submit to the will of man for He says not a word in defense of Himself and allows this to take place when He could call a host of angels to rescue Him. But wait! It is not the will of man that Jesus the Lamb is submitting to. It is the will of His Father! The same Father that He has submitted to since before He arrived in Bethlehem. What a lesson for me! If I am going to follow Jesus as sheep during the coming crises of the end of this world, I had better be submitting to His will now with all of my life! It needs to be my lifestyle! We next find the Lamb crucified between two thieves. One thief ridicules Him, and the other thief looks at this man, bleeding, hanging on a cross, being spat upon, and dying and recognized Him as the Lamb of God. That amazes me. That He is recognizable at that point as God. "Remember me when you come into your kingdom." Then the sacrifice is complete. The Lamb is slain. If this were the end of the story, we would not be here in this house on this day. We would not be here any Sabbath because that would be the end of the story. But it is not, because we serve a risen Lamb, a Lamb that could not be kept down, a Lamb whose strength was not broken. This is not just a tragic story we found in history books. This is life. The Lamb Lives! Look at John 20. Here we find Mary at the tomb. Verse 11: but Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus' body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. They asked her, "Woman, why are you crying?" "They have taken my Lord away," she said, "and I don't know where they have put him." At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus. "Woman," he said, "why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?" Thinking he was the gardener, she said, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him." Jesus said to her, "Mary." She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, "Rabboni!" (which means Teacher). Jesus said, "Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them. I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'" Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: "I have seen the Lord!" And she told them that he had said these things to her. By faith, Abraham knew that God would "see to it" that a Lamb would be provided. Not just on that day with Isaac, but again on that same mountain many years later. By faith, the shepherds and John the Baptist beheld and knew the Lamb of God. By faith, the thief who recognized the Lamb will be in the kingdom. By faith, Mary recognized the Living Lamb. By faith, we can know the Conquering Lamb when He comes again! Turn with me to Revelation. I told you we'd get there. Revelation 5:9-14 says, And they sang a new song: "You are worthy to take the scroll and open its seals, because you were slain and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth." The I looked and heard the voice of many angels, number thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They circled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. In a loud voice they sang: "Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!" Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing: "To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power for ever and ever!" The four living creatures said, "Amen," and the elders fell down and worshipped. Opening Hymn: 166 Christ the Lord is Risen Today Scripture: Revelation 5:11,12 Closing Hymn: 526 Because He Lives -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Email us at our Sermons Contact Page Return to McDonald Road Sermons Index Return to McDonald Road SDA Church Home Page McDonald Road Sermons converted to HTML and last updated 4/04/99 by Bob Beckett.

by Pastor Donald J Gettys Living Within His Means Today I would like to speak to you about living within HIS means. So often we try to live within OUR means. I remember when my wife and I had three children, all in diapers at the same time, all under the age of twenty one months. What a challenge it was to make ends meet. She didn't work outside the home but she surely worked inside the home. One day we just had to have some bread, milk and things like that. We didn't have any money. I remember several days like that. We went through the drawers looking for change. She would say, "I found a quarter." Oh, it was wonderful. We finally found enough quarters, nickels, pennies and dimes to get some bread and potatoes and other small things we had to have. Those were hard times. I noticed one time when we had been scraping through the drawers trying to get enough money to get a few meager things at the grocery store and mainly eating out of our garden. We went to the grocery store, and the man ahead of us was paying for some things and he took a hundred dollar bill out of his billfold, out of his wallet. And I thought, 'How wonderful to be able to have that kind of money. It would be easy to live within his means.' And as we went out of the grocery store to the parking lot, I noticed that he got into a rather expensive car. And I though, 'I wish I had his kind of money." But I didn't. I thought of how easy it would be to live within his means. Our problem is that we have to live within "OUR" means! But do we have to live within our means? I would submit that we live within HIS means. The trouble is that we never seem to have enough money. But there is no distinction quite so impressive, and no independence so significant, as living within your means. Try it. Everybody ought to do it. Look in Ecclesiastes 5:10 Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income. This too is meaningless. We need help, don't we, with our finances, our money. The knowledge of how to put all this together fortunately here in the Bible. Did you know that the Bible offers five hundred verses on prayer, a few less than five hundred on faith, but more than two thousand verses on money and possessions. Fortunately there's a lot of wisdom and a lot of advice here. Our problem is that we always seem to want more stuff. I have a dear friend that I will not mention her name or her husband's name, but I went to visit them in their home not too long ago when we were traveling up north. Every room in her house was filled beyond capacity. There were just a little paths through all the bargains that she has accumulated over the years. Have you ever been in people's houses where there's a little path between all the do-dads and all of the junk that they have? The accumulation as pretty well filled the house. I don't know what all they have. I suppose there's a xylophone back in there. I don't know what all is back in there. I doubt if we know what all is back in there. You can barely get through. They can't even park their car in her two car garage. It's amazing. If only somehow we could be satisfied with what we have. Come to 1 Timothy for some good advice here. Every Christian needs to be content with what we have. 1 Timothy 6:6-10 But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. Every time I go to the grocery store I look at that item, I put it on the counter there and I think, 'Is this bread?' I guess it better to ask that when I take it off the shelf. That's when I need to determine what "is bread" and what "isn't bread." We need to spend our money for that which "is bread." People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. I want to go through about eight points here on how god will help us to manage our finances. 1 - GOD IS THE OWNER: That needs to be firmly fixed in our minds. God is the owner. He owns everything. If you really think about it, none of us own anything. All that our heavenly Father has is ours on loan. Our Father is rich in houses and lands. He owns everything. Because our father is rich that makes you and me rich. You are rich in God. So, never feel poor. A Christian isn't poor. Do you feel rich? You should because your Father owns it all. His means are your means. The late Bishop Edwin Hughes once delivered a rousing sermon on "God's Ownership" that put a rich parishioner's nose out-of-joint. The wealthy man took the Bishop to his house for lunch, and then walked him through his elaborate gardens, woodlands, and farm and pointed out all the acreage he owned and all the things that he had. He said, "Now are you going to tell me," he demanded when the tour was completed, "that all this land does not belong to me?" Bishop Hughes smiled and suggested, "Ask me that same question a hundred years from now." Psalm 24:1 The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; The lawn mower that you mow your grass with belongs to God. Let's get specific here. Be sure to change the oil in his mower faithfully. You take care of God's lawn mower. You need to take care of the things God has entrusted into your hands. They belong to God. They are on loan from God. He owns everything. 2 - WE BELONG TO GOD Not only does He own all those things out there, but He owns us. We belong to Him. Isaiah 45:11,12 calls us God's children.- This is what the LORD says-- the Holy One of Israel, and its Maker: Concerning things to come, do you question me about my children, or give me orders about the work of my hands? It is I who made the earth and created mankind upon it. My own hands stretched out the heavens; I marshaled their starry hosts. So we belong to God, don't we. He owns us. So we need to take care, not only of our lawn mowers, we need to take care of ourselves. I appreciate my neighbor, Charlene Anderson starting this walking club. We ought to be all out walking. We ought to be exercising. We ought to be taking care of our bodies because they belong to God. We ought to offer them up as a living sacrifice. Exercise. Eat right. Sleep well. You belong to God. He wants healthy children. Do what you can to take care of yourself. 3 - GOD GIVES US SUB-OWNERSHIP Think about that. Deuteronomy 26:9 He brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey;. Now, milk is bad for you, they say, and honey is bad for you, so sweet and everything. But somehow they ate it back then. But God gave it to them, didn't he. Does that mean it didn't belong to God anymore? No. So, it's a joint ownership. God has given you sub-ownership of many valuable things. We are stewards to care for the assets of the owner. Because God owns everything, and loans it to us free of charge and free of any interest, our hearts ought to be filled with a willingness to distribute to Him some of the things He has given to us. To return to Him the tithe He that He asks of us and give a liberal and generous offering to God. We are all capable of giving to God. And Whoever is capable of giving, is rich. A baseball player once said that his ambition in life was to hear his coach say at the time of the player's retirement, "You are the best baseball player I have ever coached." And I think my desire as a Christian is when I am able to meet my Maker that He will say, "Don Gettys, you have been faithful in little things, now I am going to entrust you with bigger things. You may enter into the joy of my kingdom." What a blessing that will be! And I want to be that type of person. I want to be faithful in little things. Bankers must be honest Soldiers must be brave Runners must be swift Weightlifters must be strong Stewards must be faithful. Stewards must be generous. I am a steward of God. And God entrusts me with money as a test; for like a toy to the child. Why do you give your child a little plastic toy? It is training for handling things of more value. Isn't that sort of the idea? If he can't take care of that, well, I'm not going to give you something really good because you'll just rip it apart. 4 - GOD PUTS US IN CONTROL OF HIS MONEY. Does God spend His money? Does God own money? Oh yes, He owns everything there is. Who spends all that money? We do. God puts us in control of spending His money. And I would submit to you that we are in control of the money and money ought not to be in control of us. All the good and attractive things of this world must never be allowed to control, or shackle a true Christian. Do we have any compulsive shoppers here in our church? Are there any compulsive shoppers here, raise your hands? No?! Well, when you go in the store, are you able to contain yourself? Maybe you ought not to go in the store. It's a place of temptation. A true steward will always be free. He or she will never be controlled by money. He will be his own person, liberated from the tyranny that ownership can easily exert. Do you own your money or does your money own you? Money is sort of like fire. It is a very excellent servant, but a terrible master. Jesus told about a man who was once owned by his money: Luke 12:16-20 And He told them this parable: "The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. He thought to himself, 'What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.' Then he said, 'This is what I'll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I'll say to myself, 'You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.' But God said to him, 'You fool! Now why was he a fool? Because he was a good farmer? Because he had lots of good crops? He had a bountiful harvest? Why was he a fool? Let's read on: 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?'" This is what will be with anyone who stores up thing for himself and is not rich toward God. We need to be rich toward God. Have you ever made a pledge, have you ever said, "you know, when this happens I fully intend on giving this amount of money to the church." If you made that pledge, you ought to keep that pledge. If you made a promise to God, you ought to keep that promise. And this man in this parable was controlled by his surplus, by his assets. he prepared all those things for himself. He didn't realize that all this bountiful harvest should have been dispersed to people that were in need. And Jesus called him a fool because of his decision of what to do with his surplus. Now, if you have a surplus and you decide to keep it all for your future you are a fool. I guess the real question is, "How much is enough?" Well, you may be thinking, "I need to retire here in a few years and I need to save all the money I can possibly save. I need a hundred thousand dollars in the bank." Well, maybe that's true. But how much is enough? If you get a hundred thousand, will you want more? Does it have to be more and more and more all the time? That's a big challenge to Christians today. Luke 12:21 "This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God." How do you become rich toward God? By depositing your life in His hands, by depositing your assets in the hands of Jesus and giving yourself to His work. We are either rich toward God or we are rich toward the devil. It's one or the other. We're either owned by worldly money or we are owned by God and managed by God, controlled by God. Remember the rich young ruler? He did not own his possessions, but his possessions owned him. The test of whether we own our money is IF we have the freedom and the power and the willingness to give it away. If not, our money owns us. Jesus passed the offering plate to the rich young ruler and he said, "I can't today. You're asking me to give too much. Modern Americans even when they think they are poor are actually living in luxury compared to most of the world. You should go to some of these other countries. They really have poverty. And our problem here in America with so many of us is that we can't distinguish between greed and need. What is the difference? Each person has to determine that for himself. Are you owned, are you managed and controlled by money? OR are you controlled by a LACK of money? Should Christians have a lack of money? Well, look at Romans 13:8, good advice in today's 1990's, almost at the turn of the millennium here. The lack of money should not control us. Avoid Debt. Romans 13:8 Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another. We need to pay as we go, don't we. Doesn't that almost sound like a cash basis? And yet, how many people operate on a cash basis? Christians should not be in debt. We need to avoid debt like leprosy or aids! Americans have too many plastic passports to poverty: credit cards! You can buy your gasoline with those things. You could charge your groceries. You can do about anything with a credit card. Many people have average balances of over twenty-five thousand dollars! They are slaves. I saw a sign in the window of a store: "Try our new easy credit plan, one hundred percent down and nothing to pay each month. That's the kind of plan you'll like." Debt comes when we do not distinguish between ENOUGH and SURPLUS. We see and we buy. We charge it. And corporate manufacturer are very good. They have all sorts of numerous do-dads we not only do not need, but that we cannot afford. The "Need Creators" (advertisers) convince us that we really need the things we don't need and we rush out and buy them to satisfy our greed. If there were no greed they couldn't have a hold on us. The need creators could not be successful without our greed. The consequence is that even Christian Americans are so enslaved to debt that they find it hard to be faithful Christian stewards. We have bought cottages, travel trailers, boats, RV's, condos, land, houses and stuff whose depreciation alone will eat up all the financial surplus and bankrupt us. We have lost our personal freedom. Our "soul" belongs to the company store. Just about the time we think we can make both ends meet we move the ends. It is our greed that is killing us. A rich industrialist came to a fisherman sitting lazily beside his boat. He asked, "Why aren't you out there fishing?" "Well, I've caught enough fish for today," said the fisherman. "Well, it's only noon. If you go out and fish some more, you could be rich like me. Why don't you go do that?" The fisherman said, "Well, I don't know. What would I do with them," said the fisherman. "You could earn more money, buy a better boat so you could go deeper and catch more fish. You could buy nylon nets and catch even more fish. You could buy bigger boats. Soon you'd have a fleet of boats. Then you'd be rich like me." "Then what would I do," asked the fisherman? "You could sit down and enjoy life!" "What do you think I am doing now?" the fisherman replied as he looked placidly out to the sea. 5 - GOD GIVES US POWER TO GET WEALTH I Chronicles 29:12 Wealth and honor come from you; you are the ruler of all things. In your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all. That's where we get wealth. Does God want His people to be wealth? Yes! You look at the people of the Bible. You look at Abraham, you look at Jacob, and Isaac and Job and Joseph and so many of the people of the Bible. Were they poor? Not very many. They were rich! Should Christians be wealthy? Yes! We ought to be, first of all, wealthy in the character of Jesus Christ. We ought to be wealthy in His righteousness. We ought to be wealthy in faith and hope and love. And we ought to be wealthy by other standards. God does not want us to have financial worries. He wants us to have financial peace. God never intended for us to be the poorest of the poor. Wealth is a gift, and it comes from God. 6 - GOD REQUIRES US TO BE RESPONSIBLE WITH MONEY. Let me ask you a question that I shouldn't ask you: Would Jesus buy a BMW? I've gone to meddling, haven't I. Nothing is more controversial than to be a follower of Jesus Christ. Nothing is more dangerous than to live out the will of God in today's contemporary world. It changes your whole monetary lifestyle. Let me put it quite simply: If Jesus has $40,000 and knew about the kids who are suffering and dying in Haiti, what kind of car would Jesus buy? Would it be a Cadillac? Now I've really gone to meddling, haven't I? Would He purchase a Jaguar? or a Farrari? What would Jesus do? I don't know what God wants you to do and I'm not criticizing those of you that drive BMW's and Jaguars. Maybe you have given more in proportion than everybody else. And God know that, doesn't he. God is our judge, and I'm so thankful for that. (Adapted from Tony Campolo in U (April/May 1988), Christianity Today, Vol. 32, no. 10.) I heard about a little girl who experienced a major breakthrough in her life when she learned to tie her own shoes. Instead of excitement, she was overcome by tears. Her father asked, "Why are you crying?" "I have to tie my shoes," she said. "You just learned how. It isn't that hard, is it?" "I know," she wailed, "but I'm going to have to do it for the rest of my life." My hunch is that some of us feel the same way when it comes to Christian stewardship. We learn that it's exciting to give. But isn't there just a tiny bit of dread because we know we have to do it over and over again for the rest of our lives? It ought to be a joy. Giving is a joy. Jesus says that He loves a cheerful giver. See 1 Corinthians 9:7. (From -- Heidi Husted, "The Sermon on the Amount," Preaching Today, Tape No. 122.) Come over to 1 Corinthians 16:2 On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made. What is that telling us? Did you catch a little phrase in here? "In keeping with his income." The man who makes sixty thousand dollars a year will give far more than the man that makes fifty thousand dollars a year because he has that extra surplus, unless he has sued it to buy expensive things and build bigger barns. Begin your giving to God at the beginning of the week. By Sabbath you will be prepared with a generous gift. 2 Co 9:7 Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. Have you given God a pickle When He deserved a peach? If God's in need of peaches And we offer Him a pickle, We're trying to buy His blessing With a selfish old plug nickel! Be careful. I think God needs peaches. 7 - GOD BLESSES GIVERS If you give to God, you will be blessed. Proverbs 3:9,10 Honor the LORD with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine. When your barns are overflowing, should you build a bigger barn? God blessed Jacob and his family. Genesis 45:18 ".... I will give you the best of the land of Egypt and you can enjoy the fat of the land." To close, I want to give you an illustration on fat. Fat is beautiful. Would you agree? Have you heard that said? Is Fat good? Yes. Listen to Dr. Paul Brand, a medical doctor who has worked with lepers in India. "Fat is absolutely gorgeous," says Brand, "When I perform surgery, I marvel at the shimmering, lush layers of fat that spread apart as I open up the body. Those cells insulate against cold, provide protection for the valuable organs underneath, and give a firm, healthy appearance to the whole body." Have you ever thought of fat like that? He continues: "But those are just side benefits. The real value of fat is that fat is a storehouse. Locked in those fat cells are the treasures of the human body. When I run or work or expend any energy, fat cells make that possible. They act as banker cells. It's absolutely beautiful to observe the cooperation among those cells!" Dr. Brand compares body fat to the church, the body of Christ. Each individual Christian in a relatively wealthy country like America is called to be a fat cell. America has a fat deposit of material wealth and spiritual resources. Christians must wisely use those resources to benefit the rest of the body. Attempt to think of yourself as a fat cell in the body of Christ; a dispenser of energy, of wealth, of power. What can a church do if all the fat cells get together. Think about that. When there is a need somewhere within the body respond generously to meet it. Destiny has placed you where you can lift when lifting is needed. Focus on your privilege of directing your stored holdings into the work. The job of a fat cell is to accumulate that it may dispense in times of need. You were created to be a dispenser! Ephesians 4:28, He should do something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with those in need. Be like Jesus who came not to be served but to serve- Mark 10:45 8 - GOD REIMBURSES HIS PEOPLE FOR THEIR GIFTS! Do you believe that? Proverbs 11:24,25 One man gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty. A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed. God will reimburse you for your tithe. Let us live within the means that God provides for us. Let us be generous with the money God gives us. Let us trust in Jesus and we will be rich in His righteousness and abundant grace. Opening Hymn: 15 My Maker and My King Scripture: Responsive Reading: #821. Closing hymn: 572 Give of your best to the Master -------------------------------------------------------------------- McDonald Road Sermons

Pastor Donald J Gettys LOT'S SALTY WIFE We have all heard the exciting story of Lot and his wife. Irene Davidson, a teacher at the First Congregational Church was telling her class the story of Lot. She said: "Lot was warned to take his Wife and Flee out of the city, but his wife looked back and was turned to a pillar of salt." A little girl, Brittany, raised her hand. "I was wondering," said little Brittany, "What happened to his Flea?" One day two men stood on a high mountain

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