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All He Had
Hurricane
Katrina Relief Effort
- Mobile, AL
The
story has been told of a rice farmer who saved an
entire village from destruction. From his hilltop farm
he felt the tremor of an earthquake and saw the
distant ocean swiftly withdraw from the old shoreline,
like some enormous animal crouching back for a leap.
He knew that “the leap” would be a TIDAL WAVE. In
the valley below, he saw his neighbors working low
fields that would soon be flooded. They must run
quickly to his hilltop or they would all die. His rice
barns were dry as tinder....
So with a torch he set fire to his barns and soon the
fire bell started ringing. His neighbors saw the smoke
and rushed to help him. Then from their safe perch
they
saw the tidal wave wash over the fields they had just
left. In a flash they knew not only WHO
had saved them but WHAT
their salvation had cost their benefactor. They later
erected a monument to his memory bearing the motto, "He gave us all he had, and gave gladly."
The
SAME words could be said of our heavenly Father and
the GIFT of his only begotten Son!
Looking
down upon His creation, God saw the terrible
predicament of man due to his sin: “the wages of sin
is DEATH” (Romans 6:23).
God loved humanity, so He determined to offer a
way of salvation.
Man’s salvation, however, would require
payment of a great price at great personal cost, and
that price He lovingly paid:
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only
begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not
perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).
High on a hilltop in
Jerusalem
, God’s Son, Jesus, “bore OUR sins in His own body
on the tree” (1 Peter 2:24), a cruel CROSS.
Through this “indescribable gift”
(2 Corinthians 9:15) God will save US from our sins, -IF-
we will accept that Gift on
His terms.
God
has promised that He will save those who: place
their faith
in Christ (Acts 16:30-31), turn from their sins in repentance
(Acts 17:30-31), confess
Jesus before men (Romans 10:9-10), and be baptized
(immersed) in the name of Christ for the forgiveness
of sins (Acts 2:38).
He has promised that He will continue to
save those who: continue to follow His revealed
will (1 John 1:7).
The
cross of Christ reminds us, “He gave us ALL He
had, and gave gladly.”
Will
YOU accept His gift?
David
A. Sargent, Minister
Church of Christ at Creekwood
1901 Schillinger Rd. S.
Mobile, Alabama 36695
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