Forgiveness

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When my friend Bill Conard was a teenager, his father abandoned the family. Bill became a troubled young man who never understood how his dad could just walk away. A few years later, at a youth rally, Bill gave his life to Jesus Christ, and eventually became a missionary to Peru. Years later it hit him: I have never forgiven my dad for what he did to us. So on Bills next visit to the United States, he phoned his father.

“Dad, I havent loved you the way I should,” he told him. “But, Dad, I forgive you, because God has forgiven me.” For the next few minutes, all Bill heard was his fathers sobbing.

Bill heeded Gods Word–“Forgive as the Lord forgave you”–and offered his father a glimpse of the boundless forgiveness thats available in Jesus Christ.

Do you need to forgive someone who has hurt you? Its difficult, but your forgiveness can give the recipient a glimpse of God he may never forget. And it may be all he needs to open his heart to Jesus.

“It Was Worth It All”

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Gloria attended our crusade one night with her parents and other family members. Later she told my son Andrew, “I felt God speaking to me. Your dad talked about women being raped as children, about being abused as teenagers, about being abused as adults. I suffered through all of that.”

Gloria returned the following Sunday night and spoke with a counselor who led her to Jesus Christ. She told Andrew, “When your dad opened the meeting that night, he looked at the crowd of only 500 people and said, We wonder if we should have had this service tonight. You tell him that, for me, it was worth it all.”

Perhaps you sometimes feel your efforts of befriending your neighbors and speaking to them about the Lord arent worth it. Let me encourage you today. We never know what God is doing in another persons life. We cant become “weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”

Don’t Wait to Speak the Truth

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At a crusade service one night in Illinois, Pastor Kevin Krase told a dead-silent audience how he had discovered a few weeks previously that he had terminal colon cancer. He exhorted us that night, “Why do you have to wait until you have cancer to talk to anybody about the Lord? Im guaranteed to be dead within weeks, so I have more clout. But youre going to die, too. So are the people you work with. Were all going to die, so just lay it out there.” Pastor Krase died a few weeks later.

If you are suffering, you have a platform from which you can honor God and share profound principles that the world needs to hear. The apostle Paul tells us, “If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation.”

But even if youre not, dont be afraid to speak the truth about heaven and hell. If people get mad and shun you, so what? Six billion others can be our friends. What matters is that their eternal destiny is at stake.

A Revolutionary

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Former Cuban President Fidel Castro said, “Ive always considered Christ to be one of the greatest revolutionaries in the history of humanity.” I couldnt have said it better myself… but I dont think Castro and I have exactly the same thing in mind.

Jesus wasnt your typical Marxist-Leninist. He never expressed a desire to overthrow the Roman Empire by force. Yet the Jesus of the Bible can revolutionize your life! He can revolutionize a city, or even a nation when enough embrace Him! History has shown this, and Ive seen it with my own eyes around the world.

Dont limit Jesus to a man with radical ideas that bear social implications. Jesus claimed to be God, and He is! Jesus Christ said, “I am THE way, THE truth, and THE life.” While you may find some of his practical advice for living in society exciting, dont forget the incredible spiritual claims He made as well. Follow Jesus, and just as Ive seen all around the world, watch your life and every life you come in contact with be revolutionized.

A ‘god’

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Jesus said that he stands at the door of our heart and knocks. If anyone hears His voice and opens the door, He will come in and eat with them. Its become popular to discuss the idea that there are many gods to be worshipped, and that the idea of one God is passe, out of date, even archaic. Following this line of thinking, many say that certainly Jesus is a god but there must be others as well! Ironically, most of the other gods that people have in mind, never claimed to be God!

Confucius never claimed he could knock on the door of someones heart. Buddha rejected the idea of a multiplicity of gods, and never claimed to be one himself! Muhammad claimed to be a prophet, but not God. Jesus Christ is the only one who claimed to be God! That is extraordinary!

That is very Good News! Because it means that God loved us enough to humble Himself and enter human history. He loved us enough that He would send His only Son to die on the cross so that we could be reconnected in relationship with Him! Share these remarkable, unprecedented and unmatched claims with a friend who is searching for the truth today. Maybe they will open the door of their heart to Jesus Christ.