Wednesday, July 15, 2015
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I've had the privilege to being on a lot of Native American reservations. And somewhere along the way, I heard the story of that little boy. A missionary was visiting a series of villages and he came on this little boy who was actually taking care of a large flock of sheep. The missionary learned that the boy's dad had died and left him and his mother with the care of the sheep. The little guy was doing his best to be a lot more grown up than you'd expect a boy his age to be.
The missionary shared the story of Jesus with the boy and ultimately the little shepherd opened his heart to Jesus. Just before he left, the missionary taught the boy his first Bible memory verse, "The Lord is my shepherd." He did it by showing him how the fingers on his right hand could each represent a word beginning with your thumb. "The-(now wrap around your second finger) Lord-is-my-Shepherd." Then he left one last encouragement with the little guy. He said, "When you get to that fourth word, wrap your left hand around the fourth finger of your right hand." "The Lord is my Shepherd." And the little boy did.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "One Little Word and Your Forever."
It was a year later before the missionary could return to that village, and he didn't see the little shepherd. So he went to the trailer where he and his mother lived. Mom came to the door, and the missionary said, "Where's your son?" She said, "Oh, you didn't hear? Last winter a terrible blizzard hit us very suddenly and my son was out in the hills trying to bring in the sheep. He never made it back. It took them three days before they found him. He froze to death."
Then she told the missionary, "You know, there was something really unusual about the way they found my boy. When they brushed the snow off of him, they found him with his left hand wrapped around the fourth finger of his right hand." The Lord is my Shepherd.
I wonder, is He yours? That little two-letter word is the difference between knowing about Jesus and knowing Jesus. And, therefore, it's the difference between heaven and hell. The word is "my". It was the difference for Thomas; one of Jesus' closest friends. Maybe he was like you. He was a spiritual veteran; someone who had heard a lot of the teachings of Jesus, someone who believed those teachings, someone who had worked for Jesus, but someone who apparently was still without Jesus in his heart.
Thomas was the one disciple missing when Jesus appeared to His men after the resurrection. He said he couldn't believe in a living Christ unless he touched the wounds of the cross. In John 20:28, our word for today from the Word of God, Jesus appears to Thomas, shows Him His nail-scarred hands, and then it says, "Thomas said to Him. ‘My Lord and my God.'"
The question is, has there ever been a time when you have consciously said, "Jesus, here I am. I'm putting all my trust in You to be my Savior from my sin." Have you ever in your heart stood at Jesus' cross and said those two words that are the difference between heaven and hell? "For me. This is for me."
If you've never really begun your personal relationship with Jesus, if you're not sure you have, would you let this be your Jesus-Day? It's the only day we're guaranteed. Tell Him that you're His...beginning right here...right now.
I'd love to help you be sure you have opened up to His love; be sure you truly belong to Him. Our website is there for that reason. Would you go there? ANewStory.com. Or if you'd like to talk with someone about beginning this wonderful, never-ending, unloseable love relationship with Jesus Christ, would you text us? It's 442-244-WORD.
What a way to live and what a way to die - being able to say, with total confidence, "The Lord is my Shepherd. The Lord is my Savior!"