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A Missionary in the Land of the Living Dead

A MISSIONARY IN THE LAND OF THE LIVING DEAD

Mike Cunningham

March 30, 2014, edited 8/25/14

I want to begin by asking you to please accept my sincere apology if I misled you in last’s week’s sermon when I stated that: “the Spirit of God lives [in] all human beings.”Nothing could be further from the truth! Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to make the correction on my blog until shortly before noon. The following is the corrected version:

“I learned that your Spirit is present [with] every human being, but in various ways. For example, you’re here with me in Heaven in all of your glory and at the same time you’re also present in Hell executing justice.”

The difference a single word can make in the meaning of a fact is like day is to night.

Last weeks story concluded with Jesus saying:

“Matt, you’re ready to be deployed To The Land Of The Living Dead. Whenever I give you an opportunity, please remind folks and help them to understand that I’m an invisible Spirit who is everywhere and that I love them very much. Please share the good news that: 1 John 4:15 (NIV)

15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God.

Today’s story begins with Matt saying: “I promise that I will, Jesus.”

Then he and Jen left to take a stroll over to one of the many beautiful Heavenly parks.Their conversation consisted of a lot of small talk. She sensed that Matt was burdened and troubled about something. Rather than ask him what was on his mind, she began to softly hum a well-known wonderful hymn that is chock-full of comforting biblical facts:

What a Friend we have in Jesus,

all our sins and griefs to bear!

What a privilege to carry

everything to God in prayer!

O what peace we often forfeit,

O what needless pain we bear,

All because we do not carry

everything to God in prayer.

Have we trials and temptations?

Is there trouble anywhere?

We should never be discouraged;

take it to the Lord in prayer.

Can we find a friend so faithful

who will all our sorrows share?

Jesus knows our every weakness;

take it to the Lord in prayer.

Are we weak and heavy laden,

cumbered with a load of care?

Precious Savior, still our refuge,

take it to the Lord in prayer.

Do your friends despise, forsake you?

Take it to the Lord in prayer!

In His arms He’ll take and shield you;

you will find a solace there.

Blessed Savior, Thou hast promised

Thou wilt all our burdens bear

May we ever, Lord, be bringing all to

Thee in earnest prayer.

Soon in glory bright unclouded there

will be no need for prayer

Rapture, praise and endless worship

will be our sweet portion there.

After a few moments, Matt began to hum along with her and then asked “I wonder why I didn’t think about praying to Jesus sooner, Jen.”

“You have a lot on your mind, Matt. It’s easy to forget. Lets start praying to Jesus now.”

As soon as the couple began, poof, Jesus appeared standing in front of them and asked

“What’s troubling you, my friend?”

“A couple of things, Jesus, first of all my sins. When I return to the Land of the Living Dead I’m going to remember every one of them. I feel awful! I was ashamed and disgusted with myself. Regardless of how hard I tried when I was on Earth the first time, I still sinned. There were times when I literally cried and pleaded with you to forgive me. Sometimes I even begged you to take me home instead of letting me be tempted to sin again.”

“Matt, because of your love for folks who haven’t already accepted my gift of forgiveness of their sins as well as those Christians that, for various reasons, aren’t doing everything that they possibly can to evangelize the lost, I hereby appoint you to be a missionary in the Land of the Living Dead.”

“I’m honored, Jesus.”

“Matt, I assure you that you’re definitely going to bear lots of fruit. A good case in point is this story that I told to my first disciples a little more than two thousand years ago:

John 15:1-17 (MSG)

1 “I am the Real Vine and my Father is the Farmer.

2 He cuts off every branch of me that doesn’t bear grapes. And every branch that is grape-bearing he prunes back so it will bear even more.

3 You are already pruned back by the message I have spoken.

4 “Live in me. Make your home in me just as I do in you. In the same way that a branch can’t bear grapes by itself but only by being joined to the vine, you can’t bear fruit unless you are joined with me.

5 “I am the Vine, you are the branches. When you’re joined with me and I with you, the relation intimate and organic, the harvest is sure to be abundant. Separated, you can’t produce a thing.

6 Anyone who separates from me is deadwood, gathered up and thrown on the bonfire.

7 But if you make yourselves at home with me and my words are at home in you, you can be sure that whatever you ask will be listened to and acted upon.

8 This is how my Father shows who he is—when you produce grapes, when you mature as my disciples.

9 “I’ve loved you the way my Father has loved me. Make yourselves at home in my love.

10 If you keep my commands, you’ll remain intimately at home in my love. That’s what I’ve done—kept my Father’s commands and made myself at home in his love.

11 “I’ve told you these things for a purpose: that my joy might be your joy, and your joy wholly mature.

12 This is my command: Love one another the way I loved you.

13 This is the very best way to love. Put your life on the line for your friends.

14 You are my friends when you do the things I command you.

15 I’m no longer calling you servants because servants don’t understand what their master is thinking and planning. No, I’ve named you friends because I’ve let you in on everything I’ve heard from the Father.

16 “You didn’t choose me, remember; I chose you, and put you in the world to bear fruit, fruit that won’t spoil. As fruit bearers, whatever you ask the Father in relation to me, he gives you.

17 “But remember the root command: Love one another.

“Matt, you’ve demonstrated repeatedly throughout your entire lifetime that you know what love is. The fruit of your efforts is quite obvious to everyone, especially me. I welcomed you into Heaven by saying, well done, my good and faithful friend.That’s one of the reasons why I’ve chosen you to return to the Land of the Living Dead as a missionary from Heaven.”

“Another reason is because you also had, and, you still do have, a tremendous burden for certain not yet saved sinners that I’ve caused to come into your life. You never tired of doing your utmost to lovingly persuade them to accept my gift of forgiveness for their sins, Matt. You are obsessed with achieving that objective. Notice that I said lovingly. You don’t try to manipulate people or cram the Bible down anyones throat. You have become a kind, humble man.”

“How could I be otherwise when I have had you for my role-model since I was a little boy?”

“As I mentioned when you first came into my presence, you weren’t always that way, Matt. I had to teach you many things and you had to endure a lot of painful physical and emotional suffering, until you finally learned. That’s when you turned around and sincerely tried to follow me in all areas of your life.”

“Those sure were painful lessons to learn. You know that I hated them with a passion. You’re a wonderful teacher, Jesus. Now I’ll be eternally grateful.

“Regardless of the fact that I’m a role model for Christians, all too many of them don’t sincerely try to emulate me, Matt.Furthermore, we both know that there are innumerable unbelievers who refuse to accept my gift of salvation and have never wanted to be friends with me. Nevertheless, these folks are loving, and kind, and considerate.

“They are gentle and patient with everyone. They’re not boastful braggers either. On the contrary, they are slow to get angry and very quick to forgive. As a matter of fact, they are more tolerant and understanding and non-judgmental than are many professed Christians, Matt. They’re not slandering backbiting gossips, nor are they bitterly angry know-it-all loose cannons that throw a temper-tantrum in order to get their own way. In fact, they put countless so-called Christians to shame. Nevertheless, because they aren’t perfect they will die in their sins and suffer eternal torment unless they accept my gift of salvation.”

“And Matt, I loved it that you learned not to snub your nose and look down upon folks who were born into the world that weren’t as fortunate as you were. You had a Christian mom and dad that loved you with a sacrificial love; to the extent that they loved you much more than they loved themselves.”

“And Matt, wasn’t it wonderful when you just happened to come across a particular gem that was written a long time ago by another inhabitant of Heaven, a man named J. R. Miller and then you put it into practice? You modernized it for yourself and attempted to share it with other folks whenever I gave you an opportunity.”

“Is it ok if I recite it now, Jesus?”

“Of course you may, Matt.”

“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly!” Colossians 3:16

“There are many people who wouldn’t start their day without spending a few moments of prayer. Nevertheless, they will go forth day after day into the thick of life’s duties and perils, without reading even a verse of Scripture! They may pray and ask God for this or that but they fail to realize that it is in and through meditating on His Word, that God chiefly gives His richest and best blessings.”

“It is in His Word that God reveals Himself to His creatures. We can’t know what He is like, or what the attributes of His character are unless we ponder the Scriptures. We can’t learn what God’s will is or what He wants us to do and to be,if we don’t read the Bible. There is nothing that we need more than to hear God speaking to us every morning. This is possible only if we open the Bible and let its words whisper their messages to us.”

Jesus continued. “Regardless of how familiar we may be with the teachings of the Scriptures, we need to ponder them anew every morning. A well-known painter always kept some purely colored stones on his table. When a visitor asked why he did so, he said it was to keep his eye up to tone. When he was working in pigments his sense of color was unconsciously weakened. By keeping a pure color near him he brought his eye up to tone again, just as the musician by his tuning fork brings himself up to the right pitch. In the same way, we must continually turn to God’s Word in order to keep our thoughts, and character, and our life up to a genuine Godly standard.”

“Rubenstein used to say that he could never omit his daily practice on the piano, for if he did; the quality of his playing would at once begin to deteriorate. He said that if he missed practice for three days, the public would know it; if he missed practice for two days, his friends would know it; and if he did not practice for even one day, he would knew it himself!”

“It is no less true in the Christian life, that in order to keep its holy tone up to what it should be, there must never be a break in the continuity of the study of God’s Word. One of the ways the Bible helps us is by making Christ known to us. The noblest Christian is he before whose eyes, the character of Jesus shines in brightest splendor. Indeed, it is only when we have clear visions of Christ that we really grow like Him.

“‘It seems to me,’ says a writer, ‘that nowadays men think and talk too much about improving their own character–but meditate too little on the perfection of the divine character.’” Christ will never appear really great in our eyes unless we study His Word daily. It’s only as He becomes great and glorious in our thought’s that our character and standard of living will be lifted up to what it should be.”

“Many of the blessings we ask God for in prayer, can come to us only through the Word of God. For instance, we ask to be kept near the heart of Christ, and Christ tells us that only those who keep His commandments shall abide in His love. In order to keep His commandments, we must know them, and we can know them only by reading and re-reading them. We ask God in the morning to guide us through the day, and in one of the psalms we find the answer: ‘Order my steps according to Your Word.’”

“That’s God leading us by His Word. If we don’t read the words of God, how can we get His guidance? The Psalmist says, ‘Your Word is a lamp unto my feet.’ It isn’t saying that prayer is the lamp. On the contrary, the Word is. We ask God to help us to overcome the temptation to sin and God answers us in the scriptures through the Psalmist who says,

“Your Word I have hid in my heart, that I might not sin against You.”

“Our prayers to be kept from sin can be answered only by getting the Word of God into our heart!

These are suggestions of the necessity of reading the Bible daily, as well as of praying. Neither is complete in itself alone. We must talk to God and, we must also listen to God talk to us through His Word.”

“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly!” Colossians 3:16

“Thank you, Matt.”

Lord willing, next week….

 

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March 30, 2014 Posted by Categories: Stories Tagged with:
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