Walking As He Walked

Have you ever noticed how people walk? It is said that the seasoned and salty sailor who has spent his life at sea, walks at a rollicking and rolling gait, reflecting the conditioning of rolling decks under his feet. In bygone days, those who had spent their life on a farm, following a team of beasts and ploughing furrows in the soft earth, walked with a pace peculiar to their particular vocation. A man who has spent his life under marching orders strides out with a martial air and at a military pace.

Some walk with a spring in their step, others swagger arrogantly along and some merely shuffle through the world. Some tiptoe haughtily down the corridors of life, others display all the poise and confidence of a well-adjusted personality.

Have you ever noticed how children often seem to imitate the walk of adults? Especially those they admire and who might be considered their potential role models? They are great little imitators, both physically and spiritually. Little girls can't wait to put on high heeled shoes and walk just like mom walks. Little boys sometimes adopt the exact same gait as their dad.

One Sunday morning I noticed a little fellow coming down the church aisle before the service with a considerable limp. I approached him and sympathetically inquired about his injury. His mom told me he was perfectly well, but his father had injured his leg during the week and was limping severely. The small lad was simply walking like the dad he so greatly admired!

I am sure you may have heard the old story about the ungodly father who was walking through the snow, as was his custom, on his way to the local pub. Upon hearing the noise of crunching snow behind him, he turned and saw his small son jumping along, matching his strides and placing his small feet in the father's footsteps. From that moment on he allowed Christ into his life and his walk took a different direction.

It might be good to ask ourselves where we are placing our feet each day. Are we treading the high or low road? Do our steps lead others in the way of God or along the way of the world? Are we walking the broad or narrow way? Are we going the way leading to destruction or to life everlasting? Are we walking the way that seems right unto man? Or the way that is well pleasing unto God? Do our footsteps shuffle down the sorry side roads of sin or do our foot prints point people to the place God has prepared for His peculiar people?

Are we treading the path our Saviour trod? Trudging down the byways, highways and hedges of life, compelling others to come to Him? Do our tracks lead to the wells of this world, or are we trekking to springs of living water; showing others the way to the water of life? Are our feet shod with the gospel of peace? Are we wearing out our gospel shoes telling others of His good news?

Contemporary Or Traditional?

An old farmer went to the city one weekend and attended the big city church. He came home and his wife asked him how it was. "Well," said the farmer, "it was good. They did something different, however. They sang praise choruses instead of hymns.

"Praise choruses?" said his wife. "What are those?" "Oh, they're OK. They are sort of like hymns, only different," said the farmer.

Well, what's the difference?" asked his wife. The farmer said, "Well, it's like this - If I were to say to you: "Martha, the cows are in the corn"' - well, that would be a hymn. If on the other hand, I were to say to you:

'Martha, Martha, Martha, Oh Martha, MARTHA, MARTHA, the cows, the big cows, the brown cows, the black cows the white cows, the black and white cows, the COWS, COWS, COWS are in the corn, are in the corn, are in the corn, are in the corn, the CORN, CORN, CORN.' Then, if I were to repeat the whole thing two or three times, well, that would be a praise chorus.

- Copied

I Once Met A Man . . .

I once met a man on his way, on a bright and sunny day. He was arrayed in a suit and a tie, and shiny shoes that caught my eye.

I felt inclined to say, "Where are you going so finely arrayed, on such a hot and humid day?"

He replied, "I have not worked for many a day and really need a full day's pay. I have an appointment to meet a man, who will give me a job, if he can. I want to put my best foot forward, because I feel it is well in order, to let him know I will not loiter, but will do my best to give a full day's work for a full day's pay, and the way I dress  may carry the day!"

I once met a man in a shopping centre and the weather inside was far from winter. He had on a coat and a matching tie, that would catch the most discerning eye.

I felt inclined to say, "Where are you off to so smartly dressed, do you always wear your Sunday best?"

"Oh no," he replied, "But we have a house we wish to buy, and the price to pay is very high,so upon a banker we must rely. Today I will meet him eye to eye, and I want him to know that I will try, to repay him without a sigh. And if I dress my very best, then I should pass the reliability test."

I once met an older teen and he was dressed so very keen. His hair was so neatly trimmed that some might think, "What's wrong with him?"

I felt inclined to ask, as he hurried past, "Where are you going so very fast? You are dressed to the nines, and it's  just midday, Are you going to a party to dance and play?"

"Oh no," he said, "I'm sad to say, I'm going to a funeral on this awful day. My very best mate, has passed away. I want to show all those who attend, that he really was my very best friend. I dress like this to show I care, and to lose a friend is hard to bear."

I once met a man sloppily dressed. He was not wearing his Sunday best. He was on his way to God's own house. I wondered why, as he passed by, his dress did not honor the Lord most High? -  Pastor John White

"Where two or three are gathered in my name .... there am I in the midst of them....." (Matt. 18:20)

Is the Resurrection Reasonable?

Although historical occurrences in the first century cannot be proven beyond any doubt, there is a great body of evidence to validate the fact of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The resurrection was not an afterthought of God the Father or Jesus the Son. It is not only true that such great patriarchs and prophets as Job and David firmly believed in and clearly enunciated the truth of a bodily resurrection, but Peter in his sermon on Pentecost solemnly affirms that the God-head in pre-determinate counsel intricately planned the scenario. (Acts 2:23-27)

Jesus on a number of occasions clearly and graphically foretold His own resurrection. When the extent of the precautions taken by both the friends and enemies of Jesus to ensure His body could not be stolen from the tomb are considered, the resurrection is the most logical explanation for the empty tomb. To advocate such a deceitful plot could have been successfully planned and executed is unrealistic. The manipulation, timing and intricate detail involved would have entailed a logistical nightmare. The successful direction and control of the dozens of people necessarily involved in such a continuing cover-up defies common sense.

The appearances of Jesus in a resurrected body is an irrefutable evidence of the resurrection. His appearances to his disciples over the following forty days follow this approximate chronological order: Certain women returning from the tomb, Mary Magdalene at the tomb, Peter before the evening meal, all eleven apostles a week later, a number of disciples while fishing on Galilee, the apostles and over five hundred others upon a mountain, James, and last of all the apostles before His ascension. If the resurrection did not occur, is it reasonable the Four Gospels, the Book of Acts, and the First Corinthian letter, all giving these appearances as historical and indisputable fact, would be written and published within the lifetime of many of the witnesses mentioned, without a record of even one dissenting voice being raised?

The dramatic life-change of the disciples is convincing evidence of the authenticity of the resurrection story. They had seen Jesus cruelly crucified and had fled and gone into hiding in fear for their lives. Then Peter who had cursed and denied Christ three times, after the resurrection stood up and fearlessly preached Christ crucified to many of the same mob that had made him cringe in terror. The same disciples that had gone into hiding in an upper room for fear of the Jews, went out in the power of the Holy Spirit to turn the world upside down, after meeting and talking with the resurrected Christ. Many courageously and joyously died the most horrendous deaths for the sake of the gospel.

These transformations took place even though the disciples were evidently not expecting Jesus to rise from the dead. How   could self-deluded or deceitful men maintain such dedication to a false cause in the face of such fierce persecution? Who can possibly suggest a rational reason for their fabrication of such a story, and then their subsequent absolute dedication to Christ? Only unreasoning and unreasonable men would reject the evidence God has given confirming the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.