|
TITLE: RIP
DATE: May 8, 2019 TEXT: Acts 13:38-39 English Standard Version - Let it be known to you therefore, brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and by him everyone who believes is freed[a] from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses When I first saw Teflon, I said to myself, ’”I wish I had thought of that.” When I saw a demonstration of Velcro, I said ”I wish I had thought of that. Somebody is going to make a fortune. Well, my friends, “The-wish-I-had-thought-of-that-bug has bit me again. “ This time the thought was triggered by an action performed by Pathway Church in Kansas. In the past, along about Easter time, they sent out fliers to many of the neighborhoods surrounding their church. It was a nice idea, but she Congregation was pretty sure that most of those invitations to Easter worship ended up in the trash. They wondered how to increase the impact of the Savior’s resurrection and maximize the money they were spending to reach the lost. The first thing they did was try to summarize the resurrection message. What they came up with was something like this: “We are forgiven of our sins because we have faith that the Savior, with His life, death and resurrection has paid their price.” They also wanted to convey that this good news was absolutely free and cause for rejoicing. The next step they took was to visit with a charity called RIP Medical Debt. RIP told them that in every State of the Union there are people who, due to no fault of their own, have accumulated massive amounts of medical debt. Debt which they can’t pay off. RIP goes out and buys those debts up for pennies on the dollar. Then they forgive those debts and offer the one-time debtors a new life. What Pathway Church did was have RIP buy up the debts of 1600 Kansans. That represents 2-million dollars in debt… but far, far less in actual expenditure Then Pathway sent out a special letter to all 1600 Kansans and told them that ‘in Jesus’ name, their medical debt had been forgiven.” They concluded, “"We may never meet you, but as an act of kindness in the name of Jesus Christ, your debt has been forgiven." As I said at the beginning of the message, I wish I had thought of that. That’s because it’s a rare idea which benefits everybody; which makes everybody a winner:
THE PRAYER: Dear Lord once we were debtors and unable to make good on the vast amounts we owed. To pay the price of our sins, Jesus came and did all which was necessary so we could be forgiven. May we be clear witnesses of salvation’s message. In Jesus’ Name. Amen. The inspiration for this devotion can be found here: http://www.kake.com/story/40347256/wichita-church-pays-22-million-in-medical-debt-for-1600-kansans The music which introduces and concludes our devotions was written by Guy Baumann. He along with three of his brothers perform on the album: The Baumann Brothers which may be ordered here: http://thebaumannbrothers.com/index.html
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
RSS Feed