The
Chaplain’s
Corner
"And thus I aspired to preach the gospel, not where Christ was already named,
that I might not build upon another man's foundation; but as it is written,
'They who had no news of Him shall see, and they who have not heard shall
understand'" Romans 15:20-21 (NAS).
Following Jesus
to the Unreached!
by Mark Waltenbaugh
“My dear
children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is
formed in you…” Galatians 4:19
Have you
ever had to tell your children something more than once?
Do you find yourself yearning to make some point clear, only to find
out later that they listened to someone else and choose a different path?
Boy that’s tough, isn’t it!
How about
the times when you’ve agonized over your children when they abandon traits you
fought so hard to produce in them?
Sure makes you feel like your efforts may have been wasted!
What would
it be like to watch your child turn their life over to you, only to watch a
few years later as they abandon your ways for that of another, or themselves,
and give themselves over to destruction?
Nothing but pure agony!
How about
looking on as the ones you loved talked the right talk but walked a much
different walk when no one was watching? My
oh my that is so painful!
Or to have
those who were once closest to you have a change of heart and love another
with more zeal? Oh my, that is
surely heartbreaking!!
Welcome to
Paul’s world. After what appears
to be just a short time, the Galatian believers were abandoning the gospel
Paul had preached for a teaching that was no gospel at all:
“I am
surprised and astonished that you are so quickly turning renegade and
deserting Him Who invited and called you by the grace (unmerited favor) of
Christ, the Messiah, (and that you are transferring your allegiance) to a
different, even an opposition gospel.
Not that there is (or could be) any other (genuine Gospel), but there
are (obviously) some who are troubling and disturbing and bewildering you
(with a different kind of teaching which they offer as a gospel) and want to
pervert and distort the Gospel of Christ, the Messiah (into something which it
absolutely is not).” Galatians
1:6-7 (AMP)
“Those false teachers who are so
anxious to win your favor are not doing it for your good. They are trying to
shut you off from me so that you will pay more attention to them.”
Galatians 4:17 (NLT)
For Paul it was like the pains of
childbirth – not that he would really understand the physical pain, right
ladies? – but that all his efforts seemed to be in vain.
That he would have to begin from scratch to lead them back to Christ
all over again. It must have been
hard to watch people you worked with and loved abandon their faith.
Welcome to God’s world!
What Paul faced a few times, God has faced for all time.
So often we struggle with our families and we get so self-absorbed in
our own heartbreak and drama that we forget about our Father who feels so much
more strongly for us, and our rebellions, and our foolishness, and our
mistakes, and our sins, and our…
Incredibly, God is willing to “go
through the pains of childbirth again” for you and me.
His only prerequisite is that we will be willing to begin again.
It wasn’t too late for the Galatian
believers to turn back, nor is it for any who still breathe the breath of
life. Is today the day you turn
back to God and let Him heal you and begin to form Christ in you again?
“If My people, who are called by my
name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their
wicked way, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will
heal their land.” II Chron. 7:14
JESUS REALLY DOES LOVE YOU
Every Sunday
afternoon, after the morning service at their church, the
Pastor and his 11-year-old son would go out into their town and hand out
Gospel tracts. This particular Sunday afternoon, as it came time for the
Pastor and his son to go to the streets with their tracts, it was very
cold outside as well as pouring down rain. The boy bundled up in his
warmest and driest clothes and said "Okay Dad, I'm ready."
His Pastor Dad asked, "Ready for what?
"Dad, it's time we gather our tracts together and go out."
Dad responds, "Son, it's very cold outside and it's pouring down rain."
The boy gives his Dad a surprised look, asking, "But Dad, aren't people
still going to Hell, even though it's raining?"
Dad answers, "Son, I am not going out in this weather."
Despondently the boy asks, "Dad, can I go -- Please?"
His father hesitated for a moment then said, "Son, you can go. Here's the
tracts; be careful son."
"Thanks, Dad!" And with that he was off and out into the rain.
This 11-year-old boy walked the streets of the town going door-to-door and
handing everybody he met in the street a Gospel tract. After 2-hours of
walking in the rain he was soaking bone-chilled wet and down to his very last
tract. He stopped on a corner and looked for someone to hand a tract to but
the streets were totally deserted.
Then he turned toward the first home he saw and started up the sidewalk to the
front door and rang the doorbell. He rang the bell -- but nobody
answered. He rang it again and again but still no one answered. He waited
but still no answer.
Finally this 11-year-old trooper turned to leave but something stopped
him. Again, he turned to the door and rang the bell and knocked loudly on
the door with his fist. He waited, something holding him there on the
front porch. He rang again, and this time the door slowly opened. Standing
in the doorway was a very sad looking elderly lady.
She softly asked, "What can I do for you, son?"
With radiant eyes and a smile that lit up her world, this little boy
said, "Ma'am, I'm sorry if I disturbed you, but I just want to tell you
that Jesus Really Does Love You! I came to give you my very last Gospel
tract which will tell you all about Jesus and His great love."
With that, he handed her his last tract, and turned to leave. She called
to him as he departed, "Thank you, son! And God bless you!"
Well, the following Sunday morning in church, Pastor Dad was in the pulpit
and as the service began he asked, "Does anybody have a testimony or want to
say anything?"
Slowly, in the back row of the church, an elderly lady stood to her feet.
As she began to speak, a look of glorious radiance came from her face.
"None of you in this church know me. I've never been here before. You see,
before last Sunday I was not a Christian. My husband has passed on, some time
ago, leaving me totally alone in this world. Last Sunday, being a
particularly cold and rainy day, it was even more so in my heart . . . as
I came to the end of the line where I no longer had any hope or will to
live.
"So I took a rope and a chair and ascended the stairway into the attic of
my home. I fastened the rope securely to a rafter in the roof then stood
on the chair and fastened the other end of the rope around my neck.
"Standing on that chair, so lonely and brokenhearted, I was about to leap
off when suddenly the loud ringing of my doorbell downstairs startled me.
I thought, 'I'll wait a minute, and whoever it is will go away.'
"I waited and
waited -- but the ringing doorbell seemed to get louder and
more insistent and then the person ringing also started knocking loudly. I
thought to myself again, 'Who on earth could this be? Nobody ever rings
my bell or comes to see me!'
"I loosened the rope from my neck and started for the front door, all the
while the bell rang louder and louder. When I opened the door and looked I
could hardly believe my eyes!
"There on my front porch was the most radiant and angelic little boy I had
ever seen in my life! His smile! Oh, I could never describe it to you! And
the words that came from his mouth caused my heart, that had long been
dead, to leap to life as he exclaimed with a cherub-like voice, 'Ma'am, I
just came to tell you that JESUS REALLY DOES LOVE YOU.'
"Then he gave me this Gospel tract that I now hold
in my hand. As the
little angel disappeared back out, into the cold and rain, I closed my
door and read slowly every word of this Gospel tract. Then I went up to my
attic to get my rope and chair. I wouldn't be needing them any more.
"You see, I am now a happy child of the King, and since the address of
your church was on the back of this Gospel tract I have come here to
personally say, 'Thank you to God's little angel who came just in the nick
of time, and by so doing, spared my soul from an eternity in Hell.'"
There were now no dry eyes in the church.
As shouts of praise and honor to the Lord resounded off the very rafters
of the building, Pastor Dad descended from the pulpit to the front pew
where the little angel was seated. He took him in his arms and sobbed
uncontrollably. ~Author
Unknown
LIVES THAT CHANGED LIVES
Helena
Mother of Constantine the Great
The
varied and romantic life of Helena has in it the makings of a interesting
historical novel. Much of Helena's life history is unknown including her
nationality and actual date of her birth. We don't know much about her
beginnings except that she was the daughter of an obscure innkeeper. But we do
know that as a Roman soldier Constantius Chlorus met her, loved her, and
married her. It was about 272 when Constantine was born to them, probably in
Britain. Constantius became co-emperor by appointment of Diocletian. For
political reasons, he was compelled to divorce Helena and marry the daughter
of Maximilian. By this cruel act Helena was abandoned and sent back to a life
of obscurity and loneliness.
After Constantius and Diocletian both died, Helena's son Constantine won his
way to the throne. One of his first acts as emperor was to bring his mother
out of political exile. He restored to her the imperial dignity, gave her the
title of Augusta, and caused her to be received at court with all the honor
due the mother of an emperor.
The conversion of Constantine marks an epoch in the world's history.
He adopted Christianity as the religion of state, a marvelous contrast
to the attempt of Diocletian to utterly exterminate it. Persecutions were now
at an end. By circular letter, Constantine urged his subjects to follow their
emperor and become Christians. When he embraced
Christianity, Helena gave him strong support and encouragement. She became
known as a devout Christian herself and took upon herself the task of finding
and restoring sacred historical sites of Christianity. She made pilgrimages to
Bethlehem and Jerusalem seeking the original locations associated with the
life of Jesus in order to bring honor to them. She influenced the emperor to
build churches throughout Palestine, and oversaw the construction of those
churches herself. Helena also became know for her good works. She ministered
to the needs of the poor, the widows, and the orphans throughout the
empire.
At her death, Constantine paid his mother the highest honors. Her body was
sent to Rome and placed in the tomb of the emperors. He made her native
village a monument to her memory by raising it to the rank of a city, giving
it the name Helenopolis.
COMMUNITY BIBLE
STUDIES
TUESDAY
EVENING @ 7:00 P.M.
WHERE: HELEN
KERWIN’S
COUNTRY
WOOD’S INN (MAIN HOUSE)
Study for
June 26th – “Remember Lot’s Wife”
Genesis
19:15-29
THURSDAY
MORNINGS @ 10:00 A. M.
WHERE: SPIRIT
WIND CHURCH
TEACHER: MARY ALICE KELLY
FOR A RIDE OR
INFORMATION, CALL
SPIRIT WIND
CHURCH 897-2075 OR
MARY ALICE
364-2586 (NOT LONG DISTANCE)
Mary Alice Kelly – P.O. Box 237 – Iredell, Texas 76649