Volume No. 2009 Issue No. 12 Date: April 19, 2009
Publication of the BIBLE BAPTIST MINISTRY, 48 Alexie Rd, Hanover Township, PA 18706
Phone: 570.829.5216 pdmikBBM@aol.com pastormiklas@aol.com
In Luke 10:30-37 we read,“And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. (31) And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. (32) And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side. (33) But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him, (34) And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. (35) And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee. (36) Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves? (37) And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise.”Now read the following story of the homeless man, then notice carefully the question at the end of this story.
It was a cold winter’s day that Sunday. The parking lot to the church was filling up quickly. I noticed as I got out of my car that fellow church members were whispering among themselves as they walked to the church. As I got closer I saw a man leaned up against the wall outside the church. He was almost laying down as if he was asleep. He had on a long trench coat that was almost in shreds and a hat topped his head, pulled down so you could not see his face. He wore shoes that looked 30 years old, too small for his feet with holes allover them, his toes stuck out. I assumed this man was homeless, and asleep, so I walked on by through the doors of the church. We all fellowshipped for a few minutes, and someone brought up the man laying outside. People snickered and gossiped but no one bothered to ask him to come in, including me.
A few moments later church began. We all waited for the Preacher to take his place, when the doors to the church opened. In came the homeless man walking down the aisle with his head down. People gasped and whispered and made faces. He made his way down the aisle and up onto the pulpit. He took off his hat and coat. My heart sank.
There stood our preacher … he was the "homeless man." No one said a word. The preacher took his Bible and laid it on the stand. "Folks, I don’t think I have to tell you what I am preaching about today." Then he started singing the words to this song. "If I can help somebody as I pass along. If I can cheer somebody with a word or song; If I can show somebody compassion and then give them the gospel of the crucified, resurrected and now living Christ who can save their soul. Then my living shall not be in vain."
Now the question to think about this week: "Is your living in vain? Do you just walk right on by?”
PRAY ABOUT GIVING A GIFT TO THE WEEKLY SERMON:
As we are in the first third of 2009, let me ask you to please pray about making a gift to the Bible Baptist Ministry which sends out the Weekly SERMON this month. Wait! Before you run off to unsubscribe from the list thinking, “I thought the Weekly SERMON was free!!! Let me reassure you. The Weekly SERMON will always remain free! However it does cost to run this ministry, and instead of peppering the mailings with frequent requests, we do so just several times a year in order to make the need known. We are thankful for those who have responded letting us know of the blessing the letters and Weekly SERMONS are to them. We are also grateful of those friends from time to time who have given gifts large and small over the years to support this ministry. Thank You. Now, after you have given of your tithe to your church, and taken care of your pastor, perhaps you could help us with either an offering or a gift on a monthly basis. Simply give as the Holy Spirit guides you to give. For financial accountability, we are handling all funds under the Green Street Baptist Chapel of Edwardsville, PA (Mailing address: Bible Baptist Ministry, 48 Alexie Rd., Hanover Township 18706. Checks made out to Green Street Baptist Chapel with a memo to Bible Baptist Ministry will be tax deductible for you and placed into the account for this ministry.
In His Amazing Grace,
PS: In order to access the Weekly SERMON, please click the link to Weekly Sermon Library, where you will be able to choose: Plain Text (TXT), Microsoft Word document (DOC), Rich Text (RTF), Web Page (HTML) or PDF (Portable Document Format), any of the format(s) you desire. After you decide on the appropriate format(s) you may then print a copy of the Weekly SERMON, save it to a file on your computer, or download it and save it to a disk for future use. Your use of this material is meant to be flexible.