His Eye Is On The Sparrow......

Our young granddaughter  had come up from New South Wales to spend holidays with us. She had gotten her first small watch for her birthday. One afternoon I took her to the beach. On the way down the long winding path through the sand and sea grass she somehow dropped her small watch without being aware of the loss. After her swim, she missed her watch and we spent a good while searching the sand all around  the beach where we had placed our towels. But to no avail.  On our way back to the car, with the innocence of a child, she asked me to stop along the path and pray with her that someone might find her watch or that her mother, who had given her the watch, might not be hurt because she had lost it.

As we knelt together to pray, she placed her hand in the tall grass growing along side the path. We had only been praying a minute or so when she felt something underneath her hand and I heard her cry, "I've found it! God has answered my prayer. He's given me back my watch!" I believe the so-called "odds" against this happening in an accidental way would been mind boggling. So did my granddaughter. We should have Thanksgiving to praise and thank God for even His smallest mercies!

So As By Fire

I believe it was in the Summer of 1966 while we were planting Avalon Avenue Baptist Church in Muscle Shoals, Alabama that I was invited by Pastor Ben Powers and Zion Baptist Church in Winfield, Alabama to participate in a revival in that Church.  I can still remember the blessings of that experience.  But there was one incident that was not altogether a happy occasion.   As was the custom, Pastor Powers and myself spent a few hours each day of the week knocking on doors and sharing the gospel with the lost and encouraging Christians to support the services.  As was and I assume still is the normal practice of Pastors there,  we also made daily visits to the local hospital to visit members and friends and relatives in particular who were ill.  One such visit was a real blessing but also placed a heavy burden on our hearts.

The patient was terminally ill and obviously had very little time left on the earth.   Brother Powers gave me his background.  His wife was a faithful member of the Church.  She and the members had been praying for her husband for a number of years.  A number of Pastors had tried to lead him to the Lord but to no avail.  His attitude had been stubborn and defiant,  But Pastor Powers was not ready to give up and ask me to challenge him to be saved if the man would allow me to do so.

The Lord was gracious and loving and the Holy Spirit was present in all His power and the man was gloriously saved on his death bed. Jesus said there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels when one soul is saved and  we Pastors were rejoicing as well.  But after a few moments the newly born Christian began to weep bitterly.  Puzzled, we asked him why he was doing so.  He responded something like this:  "My wife and her friends and a number of Pastors have shared the gospel with me and begged me to be saved.  But I have stubbornly refused God's love.   Now I know for sure I am saved and will stand before Jesus at the Judgement Seat.   Here I am in this bed and cannot even be baptised now and will really soon go to see Jesus but I will have nothing in serving him.   I will be empty handed there."   Even though he was happy that he was on his way to heaven he was sad that he would be ashamed before Jesus at the Judgement Seat.  (See I John 2:28, II Cor. 5:10, I Cor. 3:1-5)

This from a Mission Report Shared With

Supporting Churches In 1975

".....But the highlight of the month had to be the service held at the Kilbride Nursing Home. About 60 people from our group went bearing gifts and the gospel to the lonely old people there. For weeks the people had planned and saved and made and bought enough gifts that we were able to give at least two gifts to every person there. In addition each one was presented with a gospel of John. The children's choir sang for them. Scripture readings and testimonies were interspersed and God really blessed us with a spiritual blessing. At the end the ladies of the church served all of them with "Christmas Cake" and punch and the very warm response of these so very lonely people was touching. In spite of their obvious longing for us to stay, we finally had to leave.

Five of us remained behind and were able to share out testimony of Christ with a few who could not leave their rooms for our service. Of all we met that day we only had two to tell us they were born again Christians.  I will never forget the testimony of one of them, an eighty year old man. As we talked to him about Jesus he began to cry. We tried to comfort and reassure him  but he would have no part of it. Here is exactly what he said, "I was a young man, and once thought I was called to be a missionary, but I would not go. I have lived a checkered life. I have done nothing for my Saviour and now I will never leave this bed. It's too late to serve Him now. I am ashamed to meet Him face to face." And this man, who according to his wife  had been a hero of Gallipoli, and had been severely wounded in two World Wars, cried like a babe. May we all read again I John 2:28 and dedicate ourselves anew to His service.

A Glimpse Of Heaven

It is tremendous that in the midst of the unveiling and revelation of all the apocalyptic events of the great tribulation and all the terrible judgements to be poured out upon the earth, God allows us a glimpse of heaven and what it will be like. What a contrast and what tremendous words of comfort and assurance He provides in His Word.

Until I had the privilege of staving a few weeks with a pastor friend and preaching in a number of rural churches in the pristine and beautiful mountains of West Virginia, I could not appreciate the words of John Denver's beautiful song, "Almost heaven, West Virginia..." Until my daughter and her family moved to North Carolina, the history, geography and contemporary nature of the place were of little interest to me. But now I find the place has a strange attraction and fascination for me. Perhaps it's because I have loved ones there.

Until I was sure God was calling me to plant churches in the great land down under, I knew very little about it, nor did I have any particular desire to make the long and exhausting plane trip to see it. But now, since I have so many loved ones in Australia, both in the physical and spiritual sense, the Lord has given me a deep love and affinity for the country.

Of course, although there are many beautiful spots on God's green earth, none could compare to the marvellous wonder and beauty of heaven. Even so, the main attraction of heaven for the Christian is not the place but the people. And the main Person Who draws us heavenward is Jesus Christ. In heaven, we shall see Him face to face. Just as our roots sometimes tug at us, drawing us back to the places and people of our origins, so does our heart draw us heavenward and homeward.

But even if the most important aspect of heaven is the presence of God and His people, we should not minimise the awesomeness of heaven itself. Imagine the amazement of our rural forefathers if they could have seen the wonders of our modern cities. I am sure the wonder and awe of heaven will amaze us even more. Heaven is a place designed and built by the architect of this vast universe. "For we know that if our earthly house of [this] tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." (I Cor. 5:1)

Just imagine a place that multiples infinitely the beauty of this earth. Imagine a place without sin or all the sorrows and sadness of earth. Imagine a place of absolute unity and harmony. Imagine a place where all will be equal. Equally rich, equally happy and equally contented. Imagine a place where all will be busy, yet blissfully at peace and rest.  We could go on imagining, but we could never really get more than a glimpse of the wonder of it all!