WHEN THE ROLL IS CALLED UP YONDER

WHEN THE ROLL IS CALLED UP YONDER

TRUE STORY:

A pastor’s wife was sitting in her living room visiting with her husband and asked him a question: “James, do you ever get tired and just want to go to heaven?” She followed the question up with a statement that still burns in that pastor’s mind: I am ready to go to heaven. If God decided to take me today, I am ready. The only thing I would be sad about is leaving you and our daughter, so, I want y’all to come with me.

For the next year, she became consumed with reaching the lost. She wanted to reach as many people as she could, and pull them out of the grips of hell. She wanted desperately to show them the way to heaven. Even though she gave birth that year, she reached out to the lost. She had a full time job, but she found time to sit at Jesus’ feet and to reach out to people who were steadily marching to hell. When she lost her job, she went out and knocked doors in her city, because she was consumed with getting someone to haven with her.

At the end of that year, she died. However, her death was not in vain because her life was not wasted! She was ready to go to heaven, but she wanted others to go there with her, and she succeeded in her efforts of giving them the best possible opportunity to go.

I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to go to heaven, and I want to bring somebody with me! I can only imagine what it will be like! I can only imagine the joy I will feel when I hear the words, “Well done...” I can only imagine what it will be like when I see those who have gone on before me...I can’t wait to see them, but I want y’all to come with me! I want my family and friends to come with me.  I want people I’ve known all my life and people I’ve yet to meet to come with me.  In fact, I want people I’ve never met to come with me!

I wonder, is there anybody else that wants to go to heaven and bring as many others as possible with you?

J. M. Black penned the words to one of the old-time favorite hymns we used to sing pretty regularly in the Church...

When the trumpet of the Lord shall sound,

and time shall be no more,

And the morning breaks, eternal, bright and fair;

When the saved of earth shall gather over on the other shore,

And the roll is called up yonder I’ll be there!

On that bright and cloudless morning

when the dead in Christ shall rise,

And the glory of His resurrection share;

When His chosen shall gather to their home beyond the skies,

And the roll is called up yonder I’ll be there.

Let us labor for the Master

From the dawn till setting sun,

Let us talk of all His wondrous love and care;

Then when all of life is over, and our work on earth is done,

And the roll is called up yonder I’ll be there!

When the roll is called up yonder,

When the roll is called up yonder,

When the roll is called up yonder,

When the roll is called up yonder, I’ll be there!

How about it – is your name there? Are you ready to go to heaven? Are you willing to say that you will do your best for the rest of 2014 to help someone else make it to heaven?

When the roll is called up yonder, I’ll be there, and I want to see you there, too!

SWAY WITH GOD

SWAY WITH GOD

Several decades ago a man was to walk a wire across Niagara Falls with another man on his shoulders. After weeks of preliminary practice, as the final moment for the even drew near, the ropewalker cautioned his young colleague with these words: “We are about to risk our lives. I am to walk the wire, and the whole responsibility is mine. You have nothing to do but match my movements. If I sway to the left, let yourself sway to the left with me. If I sway to the right, do the same thing. Under NO circumstances should you try to save yourself, for there must be only ONE will in this adventure, and that will is MINE. You must submerge your will to ensure harmony, for without perfect unison, we are both lost. There is only one thing for you to do: SWAY WITH ME.”

As they drew near the opposite side, the unexpected happened. The long vibration of the wire broke in the center, causing two waves of movement, and each of these broke again into two more, and so on, in accordance with the Law of Vibration, that the man could scarcely keep his feet where he placed them. It was a perilous moment, but the feat was accomplished and the spectacular escapade was a success, holding a place on the front page of the newspapers.

After this, the young man who had played a secondary part settled down to private life, married, and became an active leader in Christian endeavor, and an elder in his church. And he used to say: “I learned more religion on the wire that day than in all my life. I learned that the ONLY sane and safe way to live is to SWAY WITH GOD.”

Perhaps I am connecting with a reader today that needs to learn how to sway with God. You need to trust God to keep the balance when the tightrope of life’s troubles begins to unravel beneath your feet! You need to learn that there is only ONE will in this Christian relationship – and that is God’s Will – and your will must submerge to ensure your safety! Don’t try to save yourself, and don’t try to work out your problems on your own – just “sway with God,” and you will surely make it through! Don’t try to match God’s movements – just sway with God, and allow yourself to flow with and in His Spirit!

Romans 8:14-15 – For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. [15] For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.

How Big Is Your Faith?

HOW BIG IS YOUR FAITH?

Two men went fishing. One man was an experienced fisherman and the other wasn’t.

Every time the experienced fisherman caught a big fish, he put it in his ice chest to keep it fresh. Whenever the inexperienced fisherman caught a big fish, he threw it back. The experienced fisherman watched this go on all day, and finally got tired of seeing this man waste good fish. “Why do you keep throwing back all the big fish you catch?” he asked. The inexperienced fisherman replied, “I only have a small frying pan.”

Sometimes, like that inexperienced fisherman, we throw back the big plans, big dreams, big jobs, and big opportunities that God gives us. Our faith is too small!

We laugh at that fisherman who hadn’t figured out that all he needed was a larger frying pan. Yet, how ready are we to increase the size of our faith?

Whether it’s a problem or a possibility, God will never give you anything bigger than you can handle. That means we can confidently walk into anything God brings our way – or allows to come our way! If you are up against a wall, and you feel as if there is no way out for your situation, look up, because God is about to make a way where there seems to be no way! God is about to open a door for you where there has never been an open door before!

What some of you need today is a greater capacity for the miraculous! You need to understand that you don’t have to throw back any blessings! You are just as deserving of a miracle as Peter was deserving to be the only man other than Jesus to walk on water!

Hebrews 11:3 – By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.

That is to say, it is a faith that believes in the UNSEEN and in the creation of things that are not yet real!

·   It is a faith that can take Him for a gentleness you do not have in your temper.

·   It is a faith for courage when you are like a trembling reed shaken in the wind.

·     It is a faith for a steadfast will when you are as irresolute as the drifting sand.

·  It is a faith for righteousness and holiness when every instinct of your nature and every tendency of your training leads you in the downward road.

·   It is a faith for health and strength when your body is a wreck and the very elements of health are gone

·  It is a faith for souls that seem as hard as lodestone or diamonds – souls that seem to be of impenetrable hardness and unbreakable!

·     It is a faith for miracles where every door appears to be closed, and every effort vain!

This is the God with whom we are dealing. The God of the supernatural! He is “the maker thereof!” (Jeremiah 33:2); and Jehovah is His name!

We must learn to trust Him. We must use Him in His infinite all-sufficiency! We are talking about the Only Wise God, Who is able to do, “exceedingly, abundantly above ALL that we could ask or think!” He is the God who can make something out of nothing!

How big is your faith?  Is it big enough to take God at His word?