5412<\/b> To Run After Or Run From<\/b><\/p>\n
A young girl was being examined for membership in a local church. \u201cHas Christ made a difference in your life?\u201d one deacon asked. She replied that He certainly had. Trying to draw her out more, he asked, \u201cWell, then do you sin any more?\u201d The girl admitted that she did. <\/p>\n
\u201cWell, if you sinned before you were a Christian and you sin since you became a Christian, how has Christ made a difference in your life?\u201d<\/p>\n
The girl thought a moment. \u201cSir, I think it is this: before I was a Christian. I ran after sin. Now I run from it though sometimes I am still overtaken.\u201d<\/p>\n
5413<\/b> George Muller\u2019s Turnabout<\/b><\/p>\n
At the age of sixteen George Muller of Bristol, England, was imprisoned for theft; and later at the university he lived a drinking, profligate life, acting dishonestly even toward his friends. At twenty years of age he came under the influence of the Bible, and the miracle of regeneration was wrought. He who had been a thief was now so utterly a new creature that in the course of the years he gave away, of the money sent to him for his personal use, no less a sum than $135,000, and when he died his personal posses sions were valued at less than $1,000. <\/p>\n
\u2014Christian Digest<\/i><\/p>\n
5414<\/b> Webster And John Colby<\/b><\/p>\n
The oldest sister of Daniel Webster was married to John Colby\u2014the wickedest man in the neighborhood in respect to swearing and impiety. Then news came to Webster of a change, and he went to visit him. <\/p>\n
On entering the house, he saw a large-print Bible opened which Colby had just been reading. The first question Colby asked Webster was, \u201cAre you a Christian?\u201d and then suggested that both kneel and pray! <\/p>\n
When the visit was done, Webster told a friend: \u201cI would like to hear what enemies of religion say of Colby\u2019s conversion. Here was a man as unlikely to be a Christian as any I ever saw; and he had gone his godless way until now with old age and habits hard to change! Yet see him\u2014a penitent, trusting, humble believer! Nothing short of the grace of Almighty God.\u201d<\/p>\n
5415<\/b> Tolstoy\u2019s Changed Desire<\/b><\/p>\n
In my conversation, Count Leo Tolstoy, the eminent Russian writer, tells how he turned from evil to good: \u201cFive years ago faith came to me: I believed in the doctrine of Jesus, and all my life was suddenly changed. I cease to desire that which previously I had desired, and on the other hand, I took to desiring what I had never desired before. That which formerly used to appear good in my eyes appeared evil, and that which used to appear evil appeared good.\u201d<\/p>\n
5416<\/b> Quittin\u2019 Meetings<\/b><\/p>\n
I read this story recently: Sam Jones used to have \u201cQuittin\u2019 Meetings\u201d during his revivals. He gave the people opportunity to confess their sins and to repent. Many quit swearing, drinking, smoking, gossiping \u2026 He asked one woman what she planned to quit and she replied, \u201cI ain\u2019t been doing nothing and I am goin\u2019 to quit that too.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014R. W. Pelton<\/p>\n
5417<\/b> More Fuss Over Converts<\/b><\/p>\n
Gypsy Smith said: \u201cI was sitting at a table with some preachers, and one, a Scotsman, said, \u201cHow did you get on at your meeting?\u201d I said, \u201cOh, so many passed through the inquiry room.\u201d He said, \u201cIs it safe to count?\u201d I said, \u201cWell, they counted at Pentecost and put it down at three thousand.\u201d He changed the subject. <\/p>\n
\u201cLater the Scotsman said, \u201cAre you married, Mr. Smith?\u201d I said, \u201cYes.\u201d \u201cAny family?\u201d \u201cYes.\u201d \u201cHow many?\u201d I replied, \u201cIs it safe to count?\u201d When the laughter had subsided, Gypsy added: \u201cYou count your children, and the Lord counts His. You made enough fuss when your family baby was born. The Lord says there is joy in Heaven over one. The church doesn\u2019t make half enough fuss when one is converted!\u201d\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014Christian Herald<\/i><\/p>\n
5418<\/b> Gordon And \u201cRedeemed\u201d Birds<\/b><\/p>\n
Dr. A. J. Gordon was pastor of a church in Boston many years ago. One day he met a little boy out in front of the church. The boy was carrying a rusty bird cage in his hands and several little birds were fluttering around on the bottom of the cage, as if they knew they were going to be destroyed. <\/p>\n
Dr. Gordon said, \u201cSon, where did you get those birds?\u201d The boy answered, \u201cI trapped them out in the field.\u201d \u201cWhat are you going to do with them?\u201d the preacher asked. \u201cI\u2019m going to take them home and play with them and have some fun with them.\u201d \u201cWhat will you do with them when you get through playing with them?\u201d Dr. Gordon asked. \u201cOh,\u201d said the boy, \u201cI guess I\u2019ll just feed them to an old cat we have around the house.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then Dr. Gordon asked the boy how much he would take for the birds and the boy answered, \u201cMister, you don\u2019t want these birds. They\u2019re just little old field birds and they can\u2019t sing very well.\u201d Dr. Gordon said, \u201cI\u2019ll give you two dollars for the cage and the birds.\u201d \u201cAll right,\u201d said the boy, \u201cIt\u2019s a deal, but you\u2019re making a bad bargain.\u201d<\/p>\n
The exchange was made and the boy went whistling down the street, happy because he had two dollars in his pocket. Dr. Gordon took the cage out behind his church and opened the door of the cage and the birds flew out and went soaring away into the blue, singing as they went. <\/p>\n
The next Sunday Dr. Gordon took the empty bird cage to the pulpit to use it in illustrating his sermon. Then he said, \u201cThat little boy said that the birds could not sing very well, but when I released them from the cage they went singing away into the blue, and it seems that they were singing, \u201cRedeemed, redeemed, redeemed.\u201d\u201d<\/p>\n
5419<\/b> I Only Know<\/b><\/p>\n
You asked me how I gave my heart to Christ, <\/p>\n
I do not know;<\/p>\n
There came a yearning for Him in my soul<\/p>\n
So long ago;<\/p>\n
I found earth\u2019s flowers would fade and die, <\/p>\n
I wept for something that would satisfy<\/p>\n
And then, and then, somehow I seemed<\/p>\n
To dare<\/p>\n
To lift my broken heart to God in prayer. <\/p>\n
I do not know, I cannot tell you how;<\/p>\n
I only know He is my Saviour now. <\/p>\n
\u2014Anonymous<\/p>\n
5420<\/b> Rebuilt Portland Vase<\/b><\/p>\n
One of the most precious possessions of the British Museum is what is known as the Portland Vase. It is a work of perfect and incomparable beauty. One day a madman, passing through the room in which it was exhibited, struck it with his stick, and smashed it into fragments. There it lay, its beauty gone, a thing for pity and for tears. But one, with infinite patience and with love, came and gathered the pieces together and built it up again with such genius and success that only with careful examination can the fact of its ruin be observed. <\/p>\n
\u2014James Burns<\/p>\n
5421<\/b> The Stained Handkerchief<\/b><\/p>\n
A lady once showed Ruskin a costly handkerchief on which a blot of ink had been dropped. The handkerchief, she complained, was ruined, nothing was left but to throw it away. Ruskin said nothing, but took the handkerchief away with him. Shortly afterwards the lady received it back, but so changed that she could hardly believe that it was the original. Using the blot as the basis, he had worked round it a beautiful and artistic design, changing what was valueless and ruined into a thing of beauty and of joy. <\/p>\n
5422<\/b> Queen And Dirty Rags<\/b><\/p>\n
Queen Victoria once visited a large paper mill. She was shown, among other places, the \u201crag room\u201d where tons of offensively filthy rags were stored. \u201cHow can these dirty rags be made white and pure?\u201d she asked. \u201cI have a chemical process by which I can remove all the grime and uncleanness from those rags, and make them immaculately white,\u201d answered the superintendent. <\/p>\n
Some time later, the Queen found on her writing desk some of the most beautiful writing paper she had ever seen. Accompanying the paper was a note which read: \u201cWill Her Majesty be pleased to accept a specimen of my paper with the assurance that every sheet was manufactured out of the dirty rags which she saw?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014Selected <\/p>\n
5423<\/b> Epigram On Salvation (Results)<\/b><\/p>\n
\u2022 I am not what I ought to be, I am not what I wish to be, I am not what I hope to be; but, by the grace of God, I am not what I was.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014John Newton<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
5412 To Run After Or Run From A young girl was being examined for membership in a local church. \u201cHas Christ made a difference in your life?\u201d one deacon asked. She replied that He certainly had. Trying to draw her out more, he asked, \u201cWell, then do you sin any more?\u201d The girl admitted that … Continue reading “SALVATION\u2014THE RESULTS”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5265","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5265"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5265\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}