Hello everyone! From the Editor
Did you know that the church is the safest and also one of the most dangerous places to be?
It is probably the most safe place on earth. Fewer people die in church than almost any other place. It is estimated that 20% of accidental deaths are from road accidents, 17% of accidents occur at home, 14% of accidents happen to pedestrians, 16% happen from rail, water or plane flights.
However, only one in a thousand deaths (.001%) occur in church, and nearly all of these deaths were because of some previous complaint. So the safest place we can be is in church.
But, in another sense, church can be a very dangerous place. That is spiritually.
People are often more distracted and tempted by the devil in church than in other places. They find that every little noise distracts them, every movement attracts their attention. They are more inclined to go to sleep. They find that they are tempted to think more about worldly pleasures and business than at other times. They find the sermon harder to remember than any other message they receive.
This is because the devil seeks to prevent us from worshipping God and hearing His word.
So, while we should feel very safe physically in
church, we should be on our guard to resist those things that would attack each
of our souls and greatly hinder our spiritual lives.
Mistaken Identity.
Felix Neff, who lived in Switzerland, often spoke to a friend about the Lord, but he did not trust in Christ.
One day Felix was walking along a street in the Swiss city of Lausanne, when he thought he saw his friend walking ahead of him. He quietly walked up behind him and tapped him on the shoulder, and said in a loud voice, “Is your soul right with God, my friend?”
The startled man turned around quickly, and, to Felixs’ amazement, he realised that he had spoken to a complete stranger.
Felix was embarrassed and humbly apologised saying that he thought it was a friend of his. The stranger did not seem very angry and went his way.
But the truth had lodged in his mind and he began to ask himself, “Am I right with God”? Then he had to admit that he did not know the Lord or obey His word. After some time this man began to pray and read the Bible and later became a Christian.
These two men did not meet for a number of years. At last a man approached Felix, who asked him did he remember him. Felix said that he did not ever remember seeing him. The man then reminded him of that occasion when he tapped him on the shoulder. How glad Felix was to hear this man’s story, of how God had worked in his heart and had used even this case of mistaken identity to cause this man to think about his soul and to turn to the Lord.
“My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are My ways your ways, saith the Lord” Isaiah 55:9
Scoffer Saved
George Whitefield (1714-1770) was a powerful and dramatic preacher of the gospel. On one occasion he visited Edinburgh in Scotland. Thousands of people wanted to hear him preach. As there were no buildings large enough to hold such crowds, Whitefield decided to preach in the open-air.
The place he chose was under a large tree, where he could set up his preaching table and all the people would be in front of him.
A young man who scoffed and laughed at the Bible and the things of God, decided that he would make fun of Whitefield while he was preaching. He climbed the large tree above where Whitefield would preach, and while he was preaching he pulled faces and performed many antics in order to distract the people and make them laugh at the preacher.
As Whitefield preached, he noticed that many people kept looking up into the tree, so he realised that someone must be there. He glanced up and there he could see a person on a
limb above him.
He decided not to be distracted by this person, so he continued to preach with all his might.
At last he came near the end of his sermon. He spoke of God’s grace and mercy to save all those who trusted in Christ, then continued to urge people to come to Christ and be saved, even the very worst of them.
Whitefield suddenly paused and pointing to the scoffer in the tree, he said with great emphasis, “Even he may yet be the subject of that free and irresistible grace.” Every eye was fixed on that young man who felt embarrassed to be caught out.
The Lord blessed those words to him. He was deeply convicted of his sin and foolishness, and realized that he needed a change of heart.
The Lord began a good work in the scoffer’s heart. He ceased his evil ways and began to seek the Lord and became a sincere child of God.
Have a Laugh
Auto Knitting: A policeman could hardly believe his eyes when he saw a woman drive past, busily knitting. He jumped on his motor cycle and quickly pulled along side her. “Pull over!” he shouted. “No”, the woman shouted cheerfully, “Socks”.
New Outfit: When a clumsy man visited an upholstery shop, he stepped back and fell into one of the machines. He is now completely recovered and looks much better.
Fishy Cat: When the neighbour saw young Tom digging a large hole in his parent’s garden: he asked kindly, “What are you doing Tom”? “I am burying my goldfish”, Tom sadly replied. “But, that’s a very large hole for a gold fish isn’t it”? “That’s because my fish is inside your cat”, replied Tom.
In the Soup: “Can you tell me what this fly is doing in my soup”? a very angry customer asked a waiter. The waiter walked up and peered very carefully into the bowl and calmly replied, “I would say, it’s doing backstroke, sir.”
Great Panic: A husband had been patiently waiting downstairs for his wife to get ready to go visiting with him. At last his patience ran out, “Are you ready yet?” he shouted.
“I’ve been telling you for the last half hour, that I’ll be ready in a minute.” she replied.
Silent Listener: A young boy was moving around and making a noise while the minister was preaching. At last his mother whispered this solemn warning, “If you do not stop making a noise, the minister will lose the place in his sermon notes, and will have to begin the sermon all over again.” The young boy immediately sat up and remained silent for the rest of the sermon.
Remarkable Preservation
Augustine (360-430) had a number of enemies who sought to kill him. On one occasion Augustine was going to preach in another town, and, as he was unsure of the way, he asked a man to guide him there.
For some reason, this man decided to take a different route, and led Augustine through a number of odd paths, but eventually reached the town.
Augustine had no idea that a group of men were hiding on the usual road, waiting to attack and kill him. He preached his sermon and returned home. Later he was told of the plot to kill him. God used the strange path to preserve his life.
Thomas Charles (1755-1814) was a faithful preacher of the gospel in Wales. On one occasion he was travelling to Liverpool to preach. However his luggage was placed upon one boat and he went on board another boat. When he was told that his luggage was on the other boat, he changed ships.
In this way God spared his life. The ship he had left met a storm and sunk, with all on board being drowned.
Charles was spared to continue preaching the gospel.
In May 1650, James Graham, the Marquis of Montrose was hung because of the violence he had shown in war and his support for King Charles 11. Also his Chaplain, Bishop Wishart, was arrested and condemned to be hung at the same time.
Wishart was asked which Psalm he would like to be sung before he was executed. He asked for Psalm 119 and requested that the whole 176 verses be sung.
This wish was granted and the verses were slowly sung. However before the Psalm was completed, a pardon was received from the government, and Wishart was released. Had he have chosen a short Psalm he would have died.
Often we are not aware of the many times God preserves our lives. Often we are close to death, another step or action and we would be killed, but the Lord delivers us.
Convinced Jew
A university student in the German city of Leipzig was very anxious to visit some of his friends in another country, however he did not have enough money for his fare.
He thought of different ways that he could raise some money. At last he decided to sell his Hebrew Bible and German New Testament to a pawnbroker, then he would later be able to buy these books back again if he wanted to.
The man in the pawn-shop was a Jew. He was not very willing to buy the Bibles, but at last he gave the student enough money to pay for his trip. The trip would last for about two months.
When the student had gone, the Jew thought that he would read the New Testament. This man was a very devout Jew and he hoped to find many things that he could criticise Jesus for, and that this would make him to be more sure of his Jewish faith. He hid the Bibles from his family and friends and only read when he was alone.
This man was surprised by what he read. The New Testament did not say the things he expected, and he found that it spoke of Jesus as a loving, wise and merciful Saviour. He found himself secretly saying, “Oh that Jesus was my Saviour.”
When he had finished reading the New Testament he was greatly perplexed and troubled in his mind because reading this book had not caused him to hate the Lord or prove things against Him. He then thought that he could not have read the book carefully enough or with a critical mind, so he decided to re-read it. As he read it this time, the Bible seemed to be more wonderful and to offer comfort and help to the afflicted.
He now felt compelled to read it a third time. His opposition seemed to melt away and he believed the doctrines taught and trusted in Christ. He bought the Bible for himself and confessed Christ to others. When the university student returned he became his firm friend and together they served the Lord.
Old Sandy
Old Sandy was the nickname given to an old man who lived to 100 years old at Mount Morgan in Queensland.
Sandy had lived a very evil life. He had no thoughts about God or concern about his soul. For 75 years he was a drunkard. He was very unkind and unfair to his wife who was a Christian. She died many years before Sandy.
But one night he had a strange dream. He dreamt that he saw a long winding road, and at the end of it was someone whom he thought was the Lord. He realised that the long winding road meant his long evil life. He could see that he had closed his ears to God for almost a century and had gone his own way. He also realised that it was time to turn to God, and that God had kept him from danger for all his life.
At last, when this man seemed to be beyond all hope of salvation, he began to pray and seek the Lord.
Sandy was unable to read because of failing eyesight, so he decided to pay the children who passed by his house from School, to read a portion of the Bible. The children were eager to earn some money, so they readily accepted the task of reading the Bible. Often he would stop them and say, “Isn’t that lovely”.
Sandy lived for four more years after his dream. He grew to love and understand the Bible more and more. It became the bread of life to his soul. Not only did he love the Bible, but, he had a real faith in the Lord Jesus as his Saviour.
He had an excellent testimony to tell others. He loved to hear of how the Lord had led others out of sin and misery, to Himself.
As Sandy’s body became weaker, so his spiritual desire became stronger. His great desire became to depart and be with the Lord. He said, “My one big regret is that I neglected the Lord all those years, but I’ll soon be up there in a better land.” At last Sandy died full of hope and trust in Christ.
This simple story shows us how great God’s mercy is, to freely receive and pardon a man who wasted almost a century in sin and ignorance. However, we should be encouraged to know that no one is beyond the Lord’s mercy in this life.
WORTHLESS GOLD
In the early days of America a group of 300-400 men decided to travel south to search for gold. They hoped to return with much wealth and therefore be able to live in peace and comfort for the rest of their lives.
These men found what they were looking for. All of them gathered a large bag of gold. They were so happy that they were now wealthy men.
At last a steam-ship, the ‘Central America’ arrived to take them home to New York. The ship sailed first to Havannah, Cuba. But about twenty-four hours later a mighty storm arose. Several giant waves struck the ship and disabled the engines. The ship began to leak. Everyone baled and pumped the water out of the ship, but soon it became apparent that the ship was going to sink.
Quickly the few life-boats were launched and all the women were placed in them and drew a short distance from the ship.. About 200 or more of the gold diggers were left on the sinking ship.
A man who managed one life-boat, described what he heard and saw. One man took out his bag of gold and shouted, “Here, take this gold if you want to, it’s no good to me; the ship is going down, who wants it”? Others took their bags of gold and scattered it over the ship and into the sea. They said scornfully; “The ship is going down, there is no hope for us, this gold will do us no good.”
All their gold and wealth was now valueless to them. They had toiled hard for it and hoped that it would give them life-long happiness, but they all perished with their gold in the ocean.
Proverbs 11:4 says, “Riches profit not in the day of wrath: but righteousness delivereth from death.” Psalm 49:6 tells us how foolish those people are who “trust in wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches.” It is not wrong to be rich, but to trust in riches rather than the Lord, is a great evil.
BIBLE BIRDS AND
ANIMALS
1. Which animal spoke?
2. Which birds fed Elijah?
3. Which animals spoil the vines?
4. What two animals did David slay?
5. God shut the mouths of which animals?
6. Two of which birds were sold for a farthing?
7. What animal was caught by its horns in a thicket?
8. Which bird brought an olive leaf back to Noah?
9. Jesus spoke about a hundred of these animals?
10. The blood of which animal was applied to the door posts?
TRUE OR FALSE
1. Moses led the Israelites over the river Jordan?
2. There were eight people saved in the ark?
3. We read of the Lord’s ascension in Acts chapter 1.?
4. Jonathan was the grandson of King Saul?
5. King Saul tried to kill David?
6. James and Andrew were brothers?
7. Peter brought Andrew to Jesus?
8. Solomon built the first temple?
9. Gideon was a Midianite?
10. Jacob was the son of Isaac?
11. Joshua’s father was named Nun?
12. Samson was blinded before he died?
13. Aaron and Moses were brothers?
14. Jeremiah was called the laughing prophet?
15. Solomon was the last king over the twelve tribes?
16. Thomas called Christ, ”My Lord and my God”?
17. David reigned over Israel for fifty years?
18. Ezekiel said to the Lord, “Here am I send me”?
19. Daniel was cast into the fiery furnace?
20. David wrote the book of Proverbs?
21. Abraham came from Ur of the Chaldees?
22. James was the first apostle to be killed?
23. Malachi is the last book of the Old Testament?
A
CHILD’S TESTIMONY
A very rich man was also a great hater of the Bible and the things of God. He had read a number of books that claimed to explain away the Bible and to deny the claims of Christ. He considered himself to be very wise and to know better than the Bible and Christians.
One day he went for a walk. In the distance he could hear a child reading aloud. When he drew near he could see a little girl sitting outside a poor cottage reading a book. This girl’s eyes were filled with tears.
“Why are you weeping? Are you not well.? He asked kindly.
“I am quite well,” she replied, “I am weeping because I am so happy.” “But, how can you weep if you are happy”? he asked.
“Because I am reading about the Lord Jesus and I love Him so much.”
“Why do you love Him”? asked the man. “He has been dead for a long time and can do you no good.”
“No sir, He is not dead; he lives in heaven”, she replied.
“Even if that were true, what benefit can it bring you? If he could help you, he would give you money and clothes.”
“I do not wish for money, sir, but the Lord Jesus will take me one day to be with Himself in heaven. I won’t be poor then.”
The man was amazed at her simple faith, so he asked, “Is it your mother or someone else who makes you believe this?”
“No, no,” she said earnestly, “It is true, and I am so glad.”
This girl’s simple faith and sincerity deeply impressed the man. He did not say any more but gave her some money to give to her mother.
Her words “It is true, and I am glad.” Made him think, how could he explain this girl’s faith and happiness though she was so poor? Was religion something real after all?
About a week later he heard the church bells ring, and decided to attend. The minister spoke on Matthew 21:17, “Out of the Mouths of babes and sucklings Thou hast perfected praise.” He spoke on the faith and witness of little children and of the Saviour’s love and care for little children.
This man was deeply moved by this sermon and felt his heart drawn to Christ. Soon he was praying like Paul, “Lord what wilt Thou have me to do?” His arguments against Christ and the Bible all disappeared and he became a follower of Christ. He now had the same faith as the little girl and could say, “It is true and I am so happy.”
WHY PEOPLE GO TO
CHURCH?
Some go to church to take a walk;
Some go to church to laugh and talk;
Some go there to meet a friend;
Some go there their time to spend;
Some go there to meet a lover;
Some go there some fault to cover;
Some go there for speculation;
Some go there for observation;
Some go there to doze and nod;
The wise people go there to worship God.
Published by:
Southern
Presbyterian Church
16 Roope Street. New Town. Tasmania. 7008
48 Abbott Street. Launceston. Tasmania. 7250
Chaffey Street, Gladstone. Tas.
Main Road Taranna. Tas.
Phone (03)63431351 or (03)62 435755
We
invite you to worship the Lord with us every Sunday