The God of Impossible Miracles

Are you in an impossible jam? Is there no way out?

Many years ago I was a 20-year-old student travelling alone in Europe. 

Shortly before my flight back to Australia, I was enjoying a walk about Rome. It was mid-afternoon when I put my hand in my jacket pocket. 

No passport! No plane ticket! My flight was the next day!

I must not panic. I retraced my steps. 

I enquired here and there, in a shop, at a kiosk. Then I went back to the cashier where I had changed some money that morning. 

The cashier immediately gave me my passport, my plane ticket and my vaccination certificate.

God watches over us, even when we are completely stupid. I was not even a Christian yet but if you are a believer, God knew you before you were born.  

But there are much more serious problems when we need God to do the impossible.

I know a woman who was saved from certain death in her car. 

Another car ran a red light. There was no way to avoid a fatal collision but instead of crashing into her, the other car passed right through her like a scene in a science fiction movie. 

All the woman experienced was a searing heat but no impact. 

Perhaps you are reading this and grieving. It is no comfort to read of miraculous rescues when your loved one has died. It is too late for miracles.

Be assured there is another world. Heaven is real. 

I know a faithful Christian woman who prayed for her family. She had a favourite nephew who was a rebellious teenager. 

One day this believing woman was sick in bed. She had a very dark dream about a gloomy cave. She saw and felt the shadow of death. In her dream she heard a voice which urged her to pray because someone in her family was in danger of death. 

She cried out to God and prayed until she felt at peace again. Later that day she heard that her much loved nephew had died in a freak car accident.

God hears our prayers. 

So many young and old people experience supernatural encounters with God in the last moments of their life on earth. Many meet Jesus, the Son of God who died for them on the cross. 

Jesus hears the heart cry of lost ones as they die. Many turn to Him at the last.

You must never give up. Love believes all things, never stops hoping. God is at work.

It may be that your faith has been weak. Your prayers have been hindered by doubt. When we pray weak prayers from a sincere heart, God can whisper to a strong believer to pray for your loved ones. He does these things.

I once knew a nurse who told me of a very old woman who was dying in hospital. She was very lonely because she couldn’t speak English, but she knew German. Since I am fluent in German, I asked permission to visit her and I was allowed to read to her from the German bible. 

I read her bible passages about heaven, about faith in Jesus, about the free gift of forgiveness of sin and eternal life.

I was allowed to see her a few times, and she always listened intently.

The last time I visited, she seemed to be seeing things that I could not see. I thought she was just demented but perhaps she saw angels.

Then I read the words of Jesus.

Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; 

and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?" John 11:25-26 

“Do you believe this?” I repeated.

“Yes, I do believe!” she answered with a firm clear voice.

My next visit was to her burial.  People were weeping. They didn’t know she was in heaven but I knew.

If your situation seems hopeless, it may not be the end.

‘Call on me in prayer and I will answer you. I will show you great and mysterious things which you still do not know about.’ Jer 33:3 (NET1) 

Rejected Christians. Judge them or help them?

There are so many lost sheep and Jesus wants to restore them.

"Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. 

Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? 

And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders. Luke 15:4-5 (NIV) 

This parable is ignored in practice by many but when it is taught, it is used to encourage evangelism. This is not wrong but it misses an important point. 

Jesus was talking to Jews, who were God’s chosen people but many had become spiritually lost.

When we apply this text to evangelism, we must not overlook the lost sheep, the children of Christians, the church members who have left and not come back, the Christians who have been bullied and escaped into the wilderness. 

The wonderful pastor of our church died last year. 

He loved his church people and he was passionate about evangelism but he also had a big heart for lapsed, neglected or isolated believers in no man’s land. There are so many!

So often pastors preach against the church leavers and unattached Christians. This helps nobody.

Some time ago my wife and I kept chickens in the back yard. 

We saw how hens bully their sisters but when we adopted a chicken of a different breed, we saw how brutal and racist chickens can be. 

The odd hen out had feathers on her head instead of a red comb. 

She was tormented and driven away. 

She hid behind bushes or stood lonely at the other end of the yard. Her life was a misery. When I fed the chickens, I put some grain behind a bush, so she could eat in isolation.

Jesus is like that. Pastors tell us to come to church to be fed but Jesus also feeds the outcasts through Christian books, the Internet and Christian TV.

Certainly some Christian loners are over sensitive deserters but many are victims of abuse and bullying, bullied in Christian families and churches.

• A teenage girl in church becomes pregnant. The gossip and condemnation is savage and it is the girl who is blamed.

• A young man is a smoker when he is converted and his zealous evangelistic church tolerates his habit for a few months but before a year is out, he is ex-communicated for his sinful habit.

• A woman shows great dedication and gifting in bible teaching to children and women but she is condemned to second class ministry status because she is a woman. 

Traditional legalists are good at quoting three or four proof texts, just like Jehovah’s Witnesses, but how many women have had their hearts broken like this?

• There are churches which teach that the husband is the boss and the woman must always obey. This often encourages brutal oppression, soul destroying psychological control and even escalating violence. 
• When an abused woman complains to pastors in authoritarian churches, she is often not believed, not taken seriously or told to suffer for Jesus because divorce is a terrible sin.

There are Christians whose lives are torn apart by Pastors who claim to be God’s representatives who cannot be questioned. This happens in Catholic churches but also some Pentecostal and strict Fundamentalist churches. 

I know Christians who have suffered this and been more helped in psychiatric clinics than in the churches where they were mistreated.

• Some suffering Christians are not destroyed by direct bullying but are simply abandoned and ignored. A man leaves his wife and disappears. His wife becomes depressed and disturbed and no longer goes to church. The church forgets her.

Persecution of non conforming Christians also happens in respectable traditional churches. 

• A Lutheran minister in Germany preached that Islam and Buddhism were incompatible with the Bible. He was the target of a witch hunt because he dared to preach Bible truth instead of political correctness. 

Bullying happens everywhere, in the workplace, in schools, in Mosques and football clubs. 

But it is so terrible when people are torn to pieces by bullying in Christian families and sadly in some churches.

What can you and I do to seek out and help broken sheep?

Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Matthew 5:7 (NIV)

God is with you in your Trouble

This life can be hard. 

You and I did not ask to be born. You could not choose where or when you would grow up. 

Did your parents separate when you were young? You felt abandoned and insecure. In your child’s mind, you thought it was your fault, but it was not.

Was your home a battle ground when your parents were fighting? 
It was not your fault.

People often cry out for God but feel He is far away.

"Where was God when I was bullied and beaten up?"

God looked down and saw our suffering and He felt our pain. 

He wanted to help, and He had a plan. We humans have made a mess of this planet but we did not take God by surprise. 

Before the creation of the world, God saw everything that would happen and all the bad choices we would make. He knew how tough it would be and He decided to go ahead and create the world. 

4  Long ago, even before he made the world, God chose us to be his very own through what Christ would do for us; he decided then to make us holy in his eyes, without a single fault—we who stand before him covered with his love. 

5  His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into his own family by sending Jesus Christ to die for us. And he did this because he wanted to! Ephesians 1:4-5 (TLB) 

When you trust in Jesus Christ to give you a new life, He forgives all the wrong you have done, all the pain you have brought on other people and He gives you a new start in life.

Does God take away all your troubles and give you a life without problems? 

Sometimes we wish it was like this but it is not. But God is with you in all your troubles

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 

who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 (NIV) 

These words were written by the Apostle Paul. He knew what he was talking about.

2 Corinthians 11:24-27 (TLB) 
24  Five different times the Jews gave me their terrible thirty-nine lashes. 

25  Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. Once I was in the open sea all night and the whole next day. 

26  I have travelled many weary miles and have been often in great danger from flooded rivers and from robbers and from my own people, the Jews, as well as from the hands of the Gentiles. I have faced grave dangers from mobs in the cities and from death in the deserts and in the stormy seas and from men who claim to be brothers in Christ but are not. 

27  I have lived with weariness and pain and sleepless nights. Often I have been hungry and thirsty and have gone without food; often I have shivered with cold, without enough clothing to keep me warm. 

Jesus never promised us a life free of suffering but He promised to be with us forever and to save us from all our troubles.

Every time Paul was beaten and broken, God healed him, raised him up and gave him the strength to go on. 

If you love and serve Jesus, He will do the same for you.

Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; 

and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?" John 11:25-26 (NIV) 

An Atheist Discovers the Other Side

Simon was 54, a successful American professor with no need for God, a confident atheist. 

He was in his hotel room in London preparing for his flight back home when he was troubled by a stomach ache. Nothing unusual. 

But the stomach ache quickly became agony and he was rushed to hospital for an emergency operation.

Then his world began to crumble. A young doctor told him no surgeons were available until next morning. 

He was so happy with his wonderful career and his loving wife sitting by his bed but how could his atheism help him now?

He thought of his Christian childhood. He had abandoned his faith and become wise but what if it was all true? What if there really was a heaven and a hell? What would happen to him now?

He felt that his time had come. He lovingly said goodbye to his dear wife of thirty years, closed his eyes and fell unconscious.

But that was not the end after all. 

He was outside his body next to his wife. This didn’t make sense to his rational mind at all. He had no more pain. He see and hear and think clearly but no one could see or hear him.

Then the voices called him to another place. He saw people in uniforms and he thought they were medical staff calling him. 

When he followed them, he found himself in a dark unknown space. The men and women in uniform became evil beings, tormenting him ceaselessly.

He was helpless. 

In despair he cried out to the God of his childhood faith. Even though he still doubted, he had no other escape. 

Every time he shouted “God” the evil spirits retreated in dismay. 

Finally he lay alone, wounded and in pain, though not the pain from his sick body.

He was no more the strong atheist, no longer the proud intellectual. 

He saw his selfish character and he was ashamed of the way he had lived only for himself and treated other people so badly.

Then he saw himself in a vision, a boy singing happily in church.

“Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so.”

The vision faded and he began calling out to Jesus to save him. He was still full of doubt but who else could save him?

He began so see a light, which came closer and became brighter until he was engulfed by the loving presence of Jesus. 

God never forgets the love and trust of his children. Jesus is the good shepherd to goes out to rescue his lost sheep who have wandered away.

Simon’s parents took him to church. No doubt his mother prayed for him and God did not forget her prayers. 

Never stop praying and believing for your lost children, you brothers and sisters or your parents.

I prayed for my parents for many years before they believed in old age as death was knocking on their door.

Simon saw three angels who had been guarding him all though his life. Simon had left God but God had not abandoned him.

Simon longed to stay with Jesus and the angels but Jesus lovingly sent him back to his beloved wife and children. 

God had plans for Simon’s new life on this planet, a different life, a life of faith and fulfilment, loving God and helping other people.

When Simon opened his eyes, a surgeon was massaging his heart. 

When you have a real encounter with the Son of God, you can never be the same again.

For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day." John 6:40 (NIV) 

Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." John 20:29 (NIV) 

You can encounter Jesus even if you don’t see Him. It is a choice. 

Will you cry out to Jesus as Simon did? Jesus will not let you down.

This blog post is a summary of a chapter in a book by Gabriel Toscani, which I read in German. If anyone can find an English edition. Please let me know.

Toscani, Gabriel. Und dann war Licht: 35 Menschen, die alle klinisch tot waren, erzählen, was sie "auf der anderen Seite" gesehen und erlebt haben. Einige waren im Paradies, andere in der Hölle.  Kindle Edition. 

“And then there was Light: 35 people who were all clinically dead, tell us what they saw  and experienced “on the other side.” Some were in Paradise and others in Hell.”

What is truth?

Once I was discussing the Bible at a big city train station in Germany when a young spiritual idealist wanted to join the discussion.

To him, it was pointless to discuss Bible teachings, to distinguish between truth and error. 

He Enthusiastically proclaimed that all religions were different ways of understanding the one spiritual reality. All religions were ways of finding God.

He was stunned and confused by my answer. 

If all religions are ways to the same God, why does not one single one of the great religions teach this idea? 

The founders of each of the main religions claimed to teach the one and only true path to God or to spiritual reality.

He didn’t have an answer. 

A confused mixture of half understood spiritual teachings has become popular in Europe since about the time of the French Revolution over 200 years ago. 

The majority of people in the First World now are little interested in deep spiritual teachings. They ignore religion or they dabble in this religion and flirt with that spiritual experience. 

I once met a brilliant young man who graduated from university with a degree in Comparative Religion. Getting a job was a problem. Who wants a comparative priest?

If you say you believe in everything, perhaps you don’t believe in anything. 

Real faith requires commitment. In Western society commitment is a big problem. So many people want to just do their thing and keep their options open.

There are two religions in the spotlight around the world today, Islam and Christianity.

Some say they are more or less the same and we should just chill out and get on with harmonious living.

What do they believe?

By reciting in Arabic the Shahada, a person is considered to be converted to Islam. 

“Confession of faith, the first pillar of Islam, without which all the other pillars are of no value. This formula is to be repeated: 
"Ashhadu an la ilaha illa 'llah; ashhadu anna Muhammadan rasulu 'llah" :

 "I witness that there is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah." Taken from Muhammad 47:19 and al-Fath 48:29.”

http://www.answering-islam.org/Index/index.html

‘Isa did not die on a cross

Christians and Jews have corrupted their scriptures. (Âl 'Imran 3:74-77, 113) Although Christians believe ‘Isa died on a cross, and Jews claim they killed him, in reality he was not killed or crucified, and those who said he was crucified lied (An-Nisa’ 4:157).

 ‘Isa did not die, but ascended to Allah. (An-Nisa’ 4:158)

On the day of Resurrection ‘Isa himself will be a witness against Jews and Christians for believing in his death. (An-Nisa’ 4:159)

http://www.answering-islam.org/authors/durie/islamic_jesus.html

Christian beliefs

Christians are commanded not to believe that ‘Isa is the son of God: ‘It is far removed from his transcendent majesty that he should have a son’. (An-Nisa’ 4:171; Al-Furqan 25:2) 

‘Isa was simply a created human being, and a slave of Allah. (An-Nisa’ 4:172; Âl 'Imran 3:59)

http://www.answering-islam.org/authors/durie/islamic_jesus.html

What did Jesus say in the Bible?

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16 (NIV) 

Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 

If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him." John 14:6-7 (NIV) 

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Romans 5:6 (NIV) 

If You Really Need Comforting ...

We live in a world where families are torn to pieces. Children have broken hearts. Many older men and women are still broken hearted children inside. 

They disguise their brokenness with respectability, hard work, success and prosperity. 

Others stumble from divorce to divorce, partner to partner, sickness to sickness.

We need the love of God and His healing power.

He heals the broken hearted and binds up their wounds. NIB Psalm 147:3 

Many men and women find this difficult to believe. When we think of God and the Bible, we think of Church and Religion or we think of sects or cults and we feel mistrustful.

Some of us are also burdened with spiritual wounds from religious abuse.

Most of us respect Jesus. When we get to know and understand Jesus, we will find many misunderstandings fade away and disappear.

Jesus personally experienced extreme rejection and he understands the pain of horribly mistreated children and rejected men and women.

Jesus suffered very cruel persecution and not only in the last years of his life.

When he was barely 2 years old, his parents fled to Egypt where they lived as refugees. When he was still a little boy, his parents returned to Israel and lived in a town with a very bad name.

Everyone knew Mary had been pregnant before she married, so Jesus was despised as a supposedly illegitimate child. Religious people can be very cruel and Jesus experienced religious cruelty all his life.

Our heavenly Father loves you and me. He sent His only Son to live a human life and suffer with and for us.

That wasn’t for any selfish motive. He did it for you and me. He did it because he loves us.

Jesus had to suffer the deepest pain of rejection.

He is like a father to us, tender and sympathetic to those who reverence him. Psalm 103:13 (TLB) 

The prophet King David cried out to God in his pain.

See my sorrows; feel my pain; forgive my sins. Psalm 25:18 (TLB) 

Jesus came as the Jewish Messiah and the Saviour for all people. He came as the answer to King David’s prayer. He sees your pain and he hears your sighs. 

God sent his son to be tortured on the cross but that was not cruelty on God’s part.

Jesus offered himself for us because he loves us.

When Jesus spoke to his disciples about the cross, they didn’t understand him.

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

“If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.” Jn 14.6-7

When you see Jesus suffering on the cross, you see the love of God for you. 

This is the way Father God loves you. This is how his heart beats for you.

God Steps In

Realize that Yahweh performs wonders for his faithful, Yahweh listens when I call to him. NJB Ps 4:3 

If we read the bible, we see God raising up Moses, freeing two million Hebrew slaves almost overnight, drowning the Pharaoh and his great army.

He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. Luke 1:51 

God brought down the Soviet Union. Can He do it again? Yes, He can.

He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. Luke 1:52 

Hitler was smashed to pieces. Stalin was assassinated. Can God bring down North Korea? Why not?

He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty. Luke 1:53  

Can God feed the poor if economic disaster strikes? Why not? Moses and 2 million Jews ate manna in the desert for 40 years, bread from Heaven.

He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful. Luke 1:54 

Why is Israel still standing surrounded by angry enemies? Because God will not allow Israel to be destroyed.

Hundreds of thousands of faithful Christians are being massacred by Muslims and Communists but God is not defeated. 

The Christian martyrs are beyond happy in God’s home. They are in Heaven for ever. Meanwhile millions of Muslims and Communists are coming over to the One True God and becoming followers of Jesus the Son of God.

What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? Romans 8:31 

We look at the world shaking all around us. 

Politics gets stranger and stranger. New Hitlers rise up in this country and that country.  

Shadows of war loom in Korea. 

Jobs are less and less secure.  

Drugs and violence invade streets, homes and hospitals.  Perversion rocks homes and churches.

We feel overwhelmed. 

From the end of the earth I will cry to You, When my heart is overwhelmed; Lead me to the rock that is higher than I. Ps 61:2 (NKJV) 

 My flesh and my heart fail; But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Psalm 73:26 (NKJV)

Please don't give way to fear or resignation. God always has a way.

God will find a way, where there seems to be no way.

God gives you these promises. He will act if you will act on these promises. A check is no good until you cash it.

In the day of my trouble I will call upon You, For You will answer me. Psalm 86:7 (NKJV)

He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him. Psalm 91:15 (NKJV)

'Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.' 

Jeremiah 33:3 (NKJV) 

The Wrong Cross. Jesus is not your tormentor.

In a dream I saw a Christian hanging on a cross. 

I don’t remember any more detail except that the Christian had been experiencing disappointing results in his efforts to serve God.
What was the reason for this lack of success. 

The words in my dream were as clear as the sun in the sky. 

“The wrong cross!”

The Christian was nailed to a cross but it was not by God’s appointment. What could that mean?

In the dream I saw nothing more specific and God did not speak to me directly about it but as I pondered the message, many real life stories came to mind.

Lord Jesus and the Apostle Paul both taught that celibacy is a calling and a gift of God given only to some people. Paul was celibate but most of the Apostles, including Peter, were married.

Yet there are some churches that require all full time spiritual workers to be celibate. We read of sex scandals in the media on a regular basis. 

Clearly celibacy is for many people “The Wrong Cross.”

Many Christian women see their husband criminally assaulting their own children or corrupting them with pornography or incest. 

When such women protest, they are often not believed by church leaders or else they are told it is their own fault for not being a sexually satisfying wife. They are often told that it is a sin to leave their husband and that: “God hates divorce,” under any circumstances. 

If these women submit to this torture, they are on “The Wrong Cross.”

There are women who are taught that contraception is a sin and they must produce as many babies as they can.

They are on “The Wrong Cross.”

There are women who are taught that they must always, always, always obey their husbands. 

They are not free to serve God as disciples who receive their calling and direction straight from God. They are on “The Wrong Cross.”


There are women who are taught that they must not preach or teach or they must not preach or teach to men. Many are called and gifted by God to do what their leaders or husbands forbid. 

Many of these women are on “The Wrong Cross.”

Many Christians are taught that submission to the leaders of their church is their first duty. To leave or join another church is sin. 

They must sacrifice their dreams for their own life and ministry to serve the vision of the Senior Pastor. This can lead to a life of passive religiosity. They are not allowed to think for themselves or express any opinions other than those of their leaders.

These people are on “The Wrong Cross.”

Catholic Priests are called Father but many non Catholics are taught to be like obedient children under the control of a preacher.

I once heard a preacher teach that we must never challenge our pastor over anything because a pastor is accountable only to God and not to any man or woman.

What did Jesus say?

But you, do not be called 'Rabbi'; for One is your Teacher, the Christ, and you are all brethren. 

Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. 

And do not be called teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Christ. Mt 23:8-10 (NKJV) 

There are Christians who are taught that God uses sickness to purify us through suffering. Many people suffer sickness, believing they are glorifying God.

They are on “The Wrong Cross.”

There is only one cross which deals with sickness, the cross of Jesus Christ.

When evening had come, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed. And He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick, 

that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: "He Himself took our infirmities And bore our sicknesses." Mt 8:16-17 (NKJV) 

When I read the Gospels, I see Jesus is the Healer, not the tormentor.

There are Christians who have been abused or mistreated for years. They develop a victim mentality, obsessed with injustice and their own suffering. Jesus lived, died and rose again to set you free.

Don’t stay on “The Wrong Cross.”

Don't Give Up. Hope Again.

Abraham and Sarah were way past their used by date but God had promised them a son.

Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead--since he was about a hundred years old--and that Sarah's womb was also dead. Romans 4:19 (NIV) 

 

But Abraham refused to let go of God’s promise.

Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, "So shall your offspring be." Romans 4:18 

If you have a promise from God and you get tired of waiting, you need to build up your hope muscles.

Human hope is often just wishing. Wishing so often leads to frustration and broken dreams but the hope that God gives has power to change your life.

When your hope is in God, you expect God to act. God can do it. If you belong to Jesus, you have an eternal hope. 

This life is a preparation for heaven. Death is nothing to fear. 

But this life is not just waiting to go to heaven. You have a purpose and a calling from God. God put you here on earth for a reason. 

God has a plan for your life but to fulfil God’s plan on earth, you need Faith and Love but you also need to Hope. God’s plans take time.

Noah was called to build a great ship with the help of a small family. He took many years but he finished it. 

God called Moses to take 2 million slaves out of Egypt and to lead them to the Promised Land.

David was a shepherd, poet, musician, soldier and then king.
Esther was a Jewish orphan who became the Queen of Persia and saved the Jews.  

Different people, different plans. Possibly you are not called to be a ship builder, a national leader or a soldier.

Often God calls unusual people to do unusual things in very unconventional ways.

After Ehud came Shamgar son of Anath, who struck down six hundred Philistines with an ox-goad. He too saved Israel. Judges 3:31 

David was called to be a soldier but he won his first battle by hurling a stone at Goliath.

I knew an unusual woman who said she was called to be an evangelist. Everyone knows an evangelist preaches on a platform with a microphone, so some people didn’t take her seriously. Then she left our city and travelled around the country, making connections to other unusual people and telling them about Jesus. 

I once read a book about this. “God made you as an original. Don’t die as a copy.”

God only made one Billy Graham but He also made you as one of a kind, a limited edition of one.

What is your calling?

Do you want to see with the eyes of God?

Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, "I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life." John 8:12 (NKJV)

• If we have the light of life, we can see clearly.
• If we know our bible but are not changed by the love of God, our knowledge is worthless.

Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 1 John 4:8 (NIV)

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16 (NIV)

• If this love does not dominate our thinking, we are living in darkness.

Very few people are really blind. Most of us can see with our eyes but what do we see in our hearts? How do we understand what we see?

Three men looked at a prostitute.

• One man looked and desired her. He was looking for sexual excitement.
• A second man looked and saw a bad woman. She was evil and she was under God’s judgement.
• A third man looked and saw a woman who had suffered much. 

He thought of his own little daughter, his wife and his mother. He looked at the prostitute and wondered what suffering and confusion led her into this life. No little girl dreams of a future in prostitution. He saw a woman in need of real love and the mercy of God.

• Jesus of Nazareth thought like the third man and Jesus is the same today. 

• Sadly there are some Christians who think like the second man.

In the same chapter of John’s Gospel we read how religious men brought a woman to Jesus. 

They had caught her in the act of committing adultery. What kind of man would stalk a woman to catch her in the act? But these men thought God would approve of their zeal for morality.They challenged Jesus and demanded the death penalty for the woman.

Jesus was not happy. He loved justice but where was the man she had sinned with? 

• Why should he condemn the poor woman to death while the man went free and the accusers were rewarded for their cruelty and pride?
• Jesus was not only full of love but also full of wisdom. He had the perfect answer.

So when they continued asking Him, He … said to them, "He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first." John 8:7 (NKJV)

The accusers all retreated in shame.

• If we live in the love of Jesus and let God lead and teach us, we can also think and react like Jesus.

John Dawson was the leader of Youth With a Mission in Los Angeles. 

Like Jesus he did not despise anyone but his heart was set on introducing everyone to the love and mercy of God.

He wanted to reach a man who owned a sex shop, so he made friends with him and met him for breakfast every Wednesday morning. 

• When Jesus did things like this, the religious people in Israel called Jesus a friend of sinners, and it was not meant as a compliment.

John Dawson explained the Good News of Salvation to the man and he understood the message completely but he was still not willing to put his life into the hands of Jesus. 

• Then John had an inspiration from God. He saw the man with the eyes of Jesus and he told the man how God saw him.

This man had the gift of mercy but he was not using it right. He was selling pornography, a kind of comfort but a false comfort. 

Jesus was offering to change him, so he could give true mercy and goodness to people in need. First he needed to receive mercy and forgiveness for himself.

The man changed his mind and asked Jesus to turn his life around.

• Are you ready to see people as God sees them?

• Are you ready to see even yourself through God’s loving eyes?

• God knows about your failures but he sees your potential.

• With Jesus we can even look at bad people with the eyes of love.