Pastor John Harper was an accomplished Pastor out of Scotland with hundreds of congregation members in his home church! He had been invited by Moody Church in Chicago to participate with this ministry! He was excited and his young daughter and sister accompanied them on a brand new ship on it’s maiden voyage to New York! His wife had been deceased years earlier. The Titanic was promoted as the safest ship to ever sail. On the late night of April 14th the Titanic struck that rock of ice and began taking on water! As the tragedy unfolded Pastor Harper helped load the women and children into the life boats! He gave up his life vest to another who did not have one! A crew member warned him that without the life vest you are going down with the ship! Pastor Harper replied that he was going up and not down! Pastor Harper kept shouting to the crowds, “Do you know Jesus as your Savior?” He continued to shout, “No one can save you tonight but God!” Survivors said that Pastor Harper kept preaching the Gospel to the end especially after Acts 16:31. Are you saved was his continual cry to the people entering the cold icy waters of the North Atlantic! Pastor Harper found himself in the cold frigid waters clinging to a deck chair floating in the water! As people floated by him he would ask them if they were saved? Do you know Christ! Declare His name from your lips and enter into eternal life! You only have one chance tonight! Do not let the love of this world keep you from Christ! Christ loves you but not this world! Trust Christ not your own efforts! Whether here tonight or later we will all perish from this earth! There is only one name under Heaven in where you can be saved! Pastor Harper with over 1500 people perished that night and entered eternity either saved or lost! Are you saved! When we run out of time we run out of choices! The word time means, “To Honor.” Why not honor Him today with the rest of your life here on earth? Pastor John Harpers life can be seen by reading a book called, “The Titanic’s Last Hero”, published by Moody Adams. Do not let Easter slip away from you under the dark waters of death! Pastor Oscar Cope, Mount Vernon Baptist Church, Fairburn, Georgia.
Tag: life
Easter Thoughts!
The word compassion means to suffer with! Do you see the word passion in compassion? The first use of the word compassion used in our Bible is in Exodus 2:6. Pharaoh’s daughter saw the baby Moses drifting down the river in a basket! She had compassion on the baby and rescued him! The word used here means to have pity and spare! However there is another Hebrew root word used for compassion that really got my attention! This word is used in 1 Kings 8:50 and 2 Chronicles 30:9. The word means the tender mercies of the womb! Moses was a deliverer of his people and the fruit of the womb! Compassion was born! Just as Jesus death was an act of compassion so was His birth! You cannot separate Christmas and Easter! We were not born to die but Jesus was! We die because of sin but Christ is sinless! So Jesus suffered for us and with us at birth and at death! He took our death upon Himself so that we could live! His resurrection nullified our death! Satan threw the yellow flag with the penalty of death for our sin but Jesus protested the penalty and threw the red flag reversing the decision! The penalty on the field of life is reversed! Our new resurrected life is a 1st and 10! A fresh start! Born again! A second chance at life! His blood defeated death and has won the day and life for us! James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com
Is Jesus Just a Gardener to You? John 20:15
Just as with Mary at one time in my life Jesus was just a gardener to me! As long as you do not look for Jesus you will never see Him! Mary Magdalene was the first disciple to recognize Jesus after His resurrection from the dead! Death seems to close the door on our personalities but really it does not! Remember the rich man and Lazarus? One life carried on in Heaven and the other life in Hell. Jesus carried on after his death the same way He was before death! Jesus disciples wrote Jesus off after the Crucifixion! Peter and John had preconceived idea’s about Jesus before they entered the tomb! They looked around the empty tomb and saw the grave clothes then fled and went into hiding from the Romans and the Jews! What they saw confirmed what they believed! This whole thing is a hoax! Mary hung around the tomb weeping because there was no body there to anoint for burying? Mary had experienced Jesus power for He cast 7 demons out of her! Yet she let death close the door on her faith and thought the man speaking to her in the tomb was a gardener! Then the voice and light of Jesus opened her eyes! Rabboni! Rabbi! Master! Jesus is always present even if you do not see Him! Just as a blind man can feel the rays of the sun so you can feel Jesus love! The stars shine brightest in the darkness of the night! After Jesus delivered me from death I could only see Him and experience His love! My allegiance and devotion turned to Him! Rabbi! Master! Power over death! Jesus was no longer a gardener to me! The Resurrection took on a whole new meaning! It was no longer just a religious story I heard once a year at church! Do you want the reality of Jesus or just a once a year story? You do not want to wake up on the wrong side of death as the rich man did! Either a Heaven or a Hell? The reality of Christ will one day come to all the living and the dead! Just so it is not too late for you! Chance and choice only come once to every individual. Wise men and women still seek Him! James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com
Your Best Friend Should Not Be You!
John 12:25 Greek Translation “He that has his best friend as his physical body shall be killed and destroyed eternally: and he that hateth his physical body in this world shall preserve it from danger unto life of the spirit and the soul apart from the physical body inheriting God’s life with eternal value and time.” Comment: Did you notice most of the advertising industry is based around your physical body? It is all about weight loss, hair loss, teeth loss, skin loss, ect. The cosmetic industry is a multi-billion dollar industry! Yet we will all physically die! Does that mean we do not care for our physical body? It means as Jesus said before the Cross do not let you physical body be your best friend! It will forsake you! It will be a corpse sooner or later with no value! We are the Temple of the Holy Spirit! God does not want us to pollute our bodies with sin and corruption! Love God and not your physical body! Jesus was saying death is the incubator for life! The eternal part of us is the spirit and the soul. We need to nourish this as the most valuable! Develop your soul as on a treadmill. Exercise your spirit and your soul! Practice Holiness! Use the time you have as a gift from God to lead other’s to Christ! Read and study your Bible daily! Pray daily! Spent time and money to reach the lost! Use your God given resources to support your local church! For those that make it to Heaven you will not be alone! Neither will those in Hell. Would you like to meet other’s in Heaven you had a part in reaching here on earth? Billy Graham is doing that right now and forever! There was a poem written in 1855 and later became a song titled, “What A Friend We Have In Jesus!” Who is your best friend? James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com
Easter Commentaries Luke 23:43
“And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee. Today thou shalt be with me in paradise.” Comment: So where is paradise? The Greek word means Eden, the future place of happiness! The Hebrew equivalent means a forest or fruit orchard. So the word paradise describes the Garden of Eden! Remember when Adam and Eve sinned against God they were cast out of the Garden of Eden! Then an Angel with a flaming sword was placed at the east entrance not allowing any human to eat of the Tree of Life! We know that sin and Eternal Life cannot co-exist together! Everyone will chose one but without the other! Only Jesus could make this promise to the thief on the Cross because Jesus was the Tree of Life! He was hung on a Cross to provide you an entrance back into the Garden of Eden for an eternity! A garden with no sin because of His sacrifice for our sin on the Cross! The entrance fee has been paid with His own blood! Adam and Eve sacrificed animals in the Garden to try to cover their sin! But the blood of animals was not enough! The blood of God’s only Son was the only blood that would atone for our sin! The thief on the Cross might have been the first human to re-enter the Garden of Eden! James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com
Lazy Brain?
There are two ways to slide through life: to believe everything or to doubt everything; both ways save us from thinking. Theodore Isaac Rubin
Purpose! Psalm 1
Virtues without faith are leaves, flourishing in appearance, but unproductive. How many pagans have mercy and sobriety but no fruit, because they do not attain their purpose! The leaves speedily fall at the wind’s breath. Some Jews exhibit purity of life and much diligence and love of study, but bear no fruit and live like leaves. Saint Abrose of Milan ( 340-397 A.D.) Comment: Remember what Jesus did to the tree that produced no fruit? Jesus being a Jew cautioned the religious Jews that their efforts produced no fruit outside of me! After coming to Christ fruit began to grow in my life! Fruit from deep roots in Christ! True purpose can only be found in the one outside of yourself! When He moves inside of you a harvest comes in your life you could never achieve by yourself! I find many people would rather trust themselves than the God who gave them life! The sooner you abandon self-worship the sooner you find God’s purpose for your life! There is nothing more fulfilling than this! It has eternal consequences here on earth and in heaven! James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com
Lent Season 2 Corinthians 5:17
Greek Translation; “Therefore if any man be in Christ he is a new quality never before accomplished and a fully restored man that God has created. Old things are passed away and all things have become new.” Comment: What things are passed away? Our sin has passed away! It passed away on a Cross over two thousand years ago! Sin died on the Cross with Jesus! It was nailed on a Cross never to rise again! Sin is defeated forever! Man was raised from the dead without sin! A new creature uninfected by sin! Born again! A restoration that has nothing to do with men but everything to do with God! The only sacrifice that is perfect and everlasting! Man’s efforts have failed but God’s work won the day! A victory that is not seasonal with every new game but eternal! No rivals! It is not a victory that is waiting for the next war but has defeated all foes past and future! A trophy that will not rust with time but the timeless redemption of all ages! Heaven and earth will pass away but not our Christ! He will create a new Heaven and a new earth to go along with your new life! Awaken to your new reality that had been hidden in time! Do you want to trade in your old model for the new model or do you want to hang unto death? Do you want to exchange your sin for righteousness before God? Righteousness that He purchased for you! Do you want to be wrong with men and right with God? Free at last! You cannot have it both ways! Heaven or Hell not Heaven and Hell. As we enter into the Lent season think on these thoughts! James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com
Middle of the Road?
Anyone in any walk of life who is content with mediocrity is untrue to himself and to American tradition! General George S. Patton
Life After Death? John 5:24
Absolutely! Dozens of scriptures in your Bible that verify this! Let us hear from a philosopher on this subject: “What does it take for justice to be truly real? In this world justice does not always prevail. For justice to be real and prevail there must be life after death where justice is meted out!” Immanuel Kant (1724-1804)