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An
Outreach Publication of the Church of Christ at
Creekwood |
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It's Empty Eight-year-old
Stephen had Down’s Syndrome.
His condition was worsening and was becoming
even more noticeable to his classmates in Sunday
School. The
teacher was becoming more and more sensitive about how
his classmates would treat him. Could they continue to love him as they noticed that he was a
little different? In
April, the Sunday School teacher gave each one of the
children a large plastic egg and asked all eight
children in the class to hide within it one small object that represented the NEW LIFE in Spring.
Fearing that Stephen might not have understood,
and not wanting to embarrass him, the teacher had the
children place all the unlabeled containers on her
desk so she could open them. The
first contained a tiny flower.
"What a lovely sign of life!" the
teacher exclaimed. "I brought that one!" the
donor erupted. Next
came a rock... “That must be Stephen's,” the teacher thought, “since
rocks don't symbolize new life.”
But Billy shouted that his rock had moss on it,
and moss represented new life.
The teacher agreed! A
butterfly flew from the third egg, and another
child bragged that her choice was
the best sign of all. The
fourth egg was empty.
The teacher
gasped, “It has to be Stephen's," she
thought, quietly laying it to the side and reaching
quickly for a fifth. "Please
don't skip mine," Stephen interjected. "But,
it's empty," the teacher said. Later
that summer... Stephen's condition worsened and he
died. At
his funeral, as mourners came to pay their respects,
there on top of his casket they found eight plastic
eggs - ALL of them empty! The
Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is... that
"Christ died for our sins according to the
Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose
again the third day according to the Scriptures"
(1 Corinthians 15:3-4).
His resurrection is God’s GUARANTEE that
ALL WHO HAVE DIED - WILL BE RAISED ON THE LAST DAY! How
can one experience this NEW LIFE? The
Apostle Paul reminded Christians of how they
experienced new life in Christ: "Or do you not
know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ
Jesus were baptized into His death?
Therefore we were BURIED with Him
through BAPTISM into death, that just as Christ
was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father,
even so WE also should walk in newness of life"
(Romans 6:3-4). The
Bible teaches that when one places his faith
in Christ (Acts 16:31), repents
of sin (Acts 17:30-31), confesses
Christ (Romans 10:9-10), AND is BURIED with Him
in BAPTISM for the forgiveness of sins (Acts
2:38), THAT person is raised from the waters of
baptism to walk “in newness of life.” Having been raised to walk in this new life, one must
CONTINUE to follow Christ’s teaching faithfully in
order to CONTINUE to be cleansed from sin (1 John
1:7). Jesus’
tomb was empty! That
means NEW LIFE has been made available for EVERYONE. Will YOU accept the gift of life on His terms? God bless you!
David A. Sargent,
Minister To Subscribe to "Living Water" send a blank e-mail to:
HTML version: subscribe-livingwater@lyris.dundee.net Follow this link to locate the church of Christ nearest you: www.churchsearch.org Archived issues of "Living Water" can be accessed from our website at: www.creekwoodcc.org
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