Pastor A

Destiny’s door turns on small hinges. Almost everybody can say out of his own experience, “If I had done this instead of that, the whole course of my life would have been changed.” How true for all of us. In reading the autobiography of Billy Sunday, I can see how so many intrinsically small and unrelated incidents determined his course of life.

If he had not been sitting on that Chicago curbstone one evening, and if the Pacific Garden Mission workers had failed on that one occasion alone to go forth into the highways, Billy Sunday might have been only one of the multitude of forgotten baseball players. If he had not gone to prayer meeting in his new church home he would not have met his wife who became such a factor in his work. If he had not joined the YMCA in Chicago he would not have become Dr. J Wilbur Chapman’s assistant.

And here is where the human element comes into play… if Dr. J Wilbur Chapman had not suddenly decided to abandon the evangelistic field and return to the pastorate in Philadelphia, Billy Sunday would doubtless still be unknown to the world as a great preacher of the Gospel message. It is interesting in reading about Billy Sunday that off the platform he was one of the most childlike and guileless of men. However, he was often bewildered and pained by the hostility displayed toward him and and his preaching.

Billy Sunday was quoted in responding to his critics, “I don’t see why they hammer me so. I have just gone on, as the Lord opened the way, trying to do his work. I had no plan for this sort of thing. It is all the Lord’s doings. Just look how it all began, and how wonderfully the Lord has cared for me.

“I had given up my YMCA work, and was helping Chapman, doing all sorts of jobs; putting up tents, straightening out chairs after the meetings and occasionally speaking. Then, all of a sudden, during the holidays of 1895-96, I had a telegram from Chapman saying that our work was all off, because he had decided to return to Bethany Church (in Philadelphia).

“There I was, out of work, knowing not which way to turn. I had a wife and two children to support. I could not go back to baseball. I had given up my YMCA position. I had no money. What should I do? I laid it before the Lord, and in a short while there came a telegram from a little town in Garner, out in Iowa, asking me to come and conduct some meetings. I didn’t know anybody out there, and I don’t know yet why they ever asked me to hold meetings. But I went.

“I only had eight sermons, so could not run more than ten days, and that only by taking Saturdays off. That was the beginning of my independent work; but from that day to this I have never had to seek a call to do evangelistic work. I have just gone along, entering the doors that the Lord has opened one after another. Now I have about a hundred sermons and invitations for more than two years in advance. I have tried to be true to the Lord and to do just what he wants me to do.”

That naive bit of his autobiography reveals the real Billy Sunday. He went forward as the doors were providentially opened. His career had not been shrewdly planned by himself. Nobody was more surprised at his success than he!

I wonder if all of us would be willing to follow Mr. Sunday’s pattern: give it to the Lord and let Him open the doors! Oh, how our lives would be different!

This story is a continuation from yesterday’s illustration that Billy Sunday used in one of his sermons:

“He said, ‘I did nothing of the kind. I was so low-down. I wouldn’t even speak to my mother. She followed me up and down the switchyard and even followed me to my boarding house. I went upstairs, changed my clothes, came down, and she said, “Frank, stay and talk with me.” I pushed by her and went out and spent the night in sin. I came back in the morning, changed my clothes and went to work.

“For four days she followed me up and down the switchyards and then she said, Frank, you have broken my heart, and I am going away tomorrow.”

“I happened to be near the depot with the engine when she got on the train and she raised the window and said, ‘Frank, kiss me good-bye.’ I stood talking with some of my drinking and gambling buddies and one man said, ‘Frank Adsitt, you are a fool to treat your mother like that. Kiss her good-bye.’ I jerked from him and turned back. I heard the conductor call, ‘All Aboard.’

“I heard the bell on the engine ring and the train started out, and I heard my mother cry, ‘Oh, Frank, if you won’t kiss me good-bye, for God’s sake turn and look at me!’

“Mr. Sunday, when the train on the Burlington Railroad pulled out of Denver, I stood with my back to my mother. That’s been nine years ago and I have never seen nor heard from her.”

Mr. Billy Sunday said, “I led him to Jesus. I got him a position in the old Exposition building on the lake front. He gave me the money he didn’t need for board and washing. I kept his money for months. He came to me one day and asked for it.

“He used to come to the noon meetings every day. Finally I missed him and I didn’t see him again until in June, 1893, during the World’s Fair he walked into the YMCA I said, ‘Why, Frank, how do you do?’

Frank said, “How do you know me?”

Billy Sunday responded, “I have never forgotten you; how is your mother?”

Frank smiled and then his face turned to sadness as he said, “She is across the street in the Brevoort House. I am taking her to California to fill her last days with sunshine.”

Billy Sunday concluded his story in his sermon, “Three months later, out in Pasadena, she called him to her bedside, drew him down, kissed him, and said, ‘Good-bye; I can die happy because I know my boy is a Christian.’”

Let’s not wait until the END of our life to serve Him! Let’s serve Him today!

excerpts taken from Billy Sunday’s autobiography.

Billy Sunday tells of a story that bears writing about…

“I stood on the street one Sunday night giving out tickets inviting men to the men’s meeting in Farewell Hall. Along came a young fellow, I should judge he was thirty, who looked prematurely old (sin will do just that), and he said, ‘Pard, will you give me a dime?’

“I said, ‘No, sir.’ 

“‘ I want somethin’ to eat.’

“I said, ‘ You look to me as though you are a booze-fighter.”

“‘I am.’

“‘I’ll not give you money, but I’ll get your supper.’

“He said, ‘Come on. I haven’t eaten for two days.’

“I said, “My time is not my own until ten o’clock. You go upstairs until then and I’ll buy you a good supper and get you a good, warm, clean bed in which to sleep, but I’ll not give you money.’

“He said, ‘Thank you, I’ll go up.’    He stayed for the meeting. I saw he was moved, and after that meeting I stood by his side. He wept and I talked to him about Jesus Christ, and he told me his story:

“There were three boys in the family. They lived in Boston. The father died, the will was probated, he was given his portion, took it, started drinking and gambling. At last he reached Denver, his money was gone, and he got a position as a fireman in the Denver and Rio Grande switchyards. His mother kept writing to him, but he told me he never read the letters. He said that when he saw the postmark and the writing he threw the letter into the firebox, but one day…. he couldn’t tell why, he opened the letter and it read:

“‘ Dear ….: I haven’t heard from you directly, but I am sure that you must need a mother’s care in the far-off West and unless you answer this in a reasonable time I’m going to Denver to see you.’   He said, ‘I threw the letter in the fire and paid no more heed to it. One day about two weeks later I saw a woman coming down the track and I said to the engineer: “That looks like my mother.” She drew near, and I said: “Yes, that’s my mother.” 

“He said to me, ‘What do you think I did?’

“I said, ‘Why you climbed out of your engine, kissed her and asked God to forgive you.’

“He said…“  We will complete this story tomorrow…

excerpts taken from Billy Sunday’s autobiography

It was during an evening in the fall of 1886 that Billy Sunday and five of his baseball teammates sat on the curb of Van Buren Street and listened to the music and testimonies of a group of workers from the Pacific Garden Rescue Mission. Moved by the tremendous testimonies which Billy Sunday heard, he went again and again. After several conversations with Mrs. Clark, he made the great decision which committed him to the Christian life.

Sunday’s own story of his conversion is one of the most thrilling of all the evangelist’s messages.

Billy Sunday, “Twenty-seven years ago I walked down a street in Chicago in company with some ball players who were famous in this world, some of them are dead now, and we went into a saloon. It was Sunday afternoon and we got tanked up and then went and sat down on a corner. I never go by that street without thanking God for saving me. It was a vacant lot at that time. We sat down on a curbing. Across the street a company of men and women were playing on instruments; horns, flutes, and slide trombones. The others were singing the gospel hymns that I used to hear my mother sing back in the log cabin in Iowa and back in the old church where I used to go to Sunday school.

“And God painted on the canvas of my recollection and memory a vivid picture of the scenes of other days and other faces. Many have longed since turned to dust. I was overcome; and a young man stepped out and said, ‘We are going down to the Pacific Garden Mission. Won’t you come down to the mission? I am sure you will enjoy it. You can hear drunkards tell how they have been saved and girls tell how they have been saved from the red-light district.’

“I arose and said to the boys, ‘I’m through. I am going to Jesus Christ. We’ve come to the parting of the ways,’ and I turned my back on them. Some of them laughed and some of them mocked me; one of them gave me encouragement; others never said a word.

“Twenty-seven years ago I turned and left that little group on the corner of State and Madison Streets and walked to the little mission and fell on my knees and staggered out of sin and into the arms of the Savior.“

I absolutely love that phrase… I staggered out of sin and into the arms of the Savior! There are many more Billy Sundays that need to be reached with the Gospel message of Jesus Christ. May we take up the challenge in this year 2013 and help others stagger out of their sin and into the waiting arms of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

excerpts taken from Billy Sunday’s autobiography

Nobody this side of heaven can tell to whom the credit belongs for any great life or great work. But we may be reasonably sure that the unsung and unknown women of the earth have a large part in every achievement worth while. Mrs. Clark, the saintly wife of Colonel Clark, the devoted founder of the Pacific Garden Rescue Mission in Chicago, was one of that host of women, who, like the few who followed Jesus in his earthly ministry, have served in lowly, inconspicuous ways, doing small tasks with a great love.

Night after night, with a consecration which never wavered, Mrs. Clark labored in the gospel for a motley crowd of men and women. A single visit to a downtown rescue mission can be best described as an adventure. Far different is it to spend night after night, regardless of weather or personal feelings, in coming to close contact with sin-soaked men and women, many of them the devil’s refuse. A sickening share of the number are merely seeking shelter or lodging or food: sin’s wages are not sufficient to live upon, and they turn to the mercy of Christianity for help.

The spirit of the consecrated rescue mission worker: never to be cast down by unworthiness or ingratitude, to keep a heart of hope in face of successive failures, and to rejoice with a shepherd’s joy over the one rescued.

Such a woman was Mrs. Clark, the spiritual mother to a multitude of redeemed men. Of all the trophies which she has laid at the feet of her Lord, the redemption of Billy Sunday seems to human eyes – the brightest. For it was this woman who persuaded him to accept Christ as his Savior!

When we contemplate the relation of that one humble rescue mission in Chicago, the monument of a businessman’s consecration to Christ, to the scores of Sunday churches all over the US; and when we connect the streams of redeemed on the “sawdust trail” with that one young man of twenty-five going forward up the aisle of the mission home, we realize afresh that God uses many workers to carry on his one work; and that though Paul may plant and Apollos water, it is God alone who gives the increase!

excerpts taken from Billy Sunday’s autobiography

• Accept the fact that some days you’re the pigeon, and some days you’re the statue!
• Always keep your words soft and sweet, just in case you have to eat them.
• Always read stuff that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it.
• Drive carefully… It’s not only cars that can be recalled by their Maker.
• If you can’t be kind, at least have the decency to be vague.
• If you lend someone $20 and never see that person again, it was probably worth it.
• It may be that your sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others.
• Never buy a car you can’t push.
• Never put both feet in your mouth at the same time, because then you won’t have a leg to stand on.
• Since it’s the early worm that gets eaten by the bird, sleep late.
• The second mouse gets the cheese.
• When everything’s coming your way, you’re in the wrong lane.
• Birthdays are good for you. The more you have, the longer you live.
• Some mistakes are too much fun to make only once.
• We could learn a lot from crayons. Some are sharp, some are pretty and some are dull. Some have weird names and all are different colors, but they all have to live in the same box.
• A truly happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery on a detour.
• Have an awesome day and know that someone has thought about you today.

AND MOST IMPORTANTLY

• Save the earth….  It’s the only planet with chocolate!

by Claudia Barber

I was a preacher’s kid. I watched my parents garden and can, sew and mend, scrimp, save, and make do. We had less stuff than some of our friends. But when I watched my dad in the pulpit, I could see that he thought he had the best job in the world. And I learned that there are more important things than money.

I was a preacher’s kid. The day my parents came out of Daddy’s office with a lady who had just accepted Jesus as her Savior and asked to borrow my globe so they could show her how her sins were removed as far as the east is from the west, I saw their faces shine and their eyes glisten, and I learned why they loved their job.

I was a preacher’s kid. When famous and not-so-famous preachers came to town, we cleaned and cooked on Saturday so we could bring them home for Sunday roast beef. They smiled and teased and asked if they could take off their shoes, and I learned that though they were our honored guests, they were also real people, and I could trust them.

I was a preacher’s kid. Sometimes grown-ups came over after the Sunday evening service, too late for little girls. Mother sent us up to bed, but we stayed awake under our quilts and waited because we knew she’d come with goodnight kisses and Coke floats in little glasses on a tray. I learned that even when our parents’ duties took them away from us for a little while, we were never out of their thoughts, not even for a minute.

I was a preacher’s kid. Even when I squirmed through morning prayer and Bible reading, eager to ride my bike or finish my Nancy Drew or cram for a test, Daddy made sure our family began each day by giving it to God. And I learned to put Him first.

I was a preacher’s kid. No errand with my dad was ever quick, because he was always stopping to talk to folks, to learn their names, hear their stories, hand them gospel tracts, ask if they were saved. On those errands I began to see people as more than clerks and waitresses and attorneys and mechanics and nurses and mailmen. I learned that every person is a soul God loves.

I was a preacher’s kid. When a grown-up once scolded me for something I didn’t even do and added the stinging “And you’re the preacher’s kid!”, I marched indignantly to my parents, certain they would take up my righteous cause. But when they just smiled and said gently, “We’re sorry, honey; people are like that, you know,” and dropped it right there, I learned that some things aren’t worth fighting for, and pride of reputation is one of them.

I was a preacher’s kid, and when I saw my dad give up friendships, position, and pension for the sake of defending the scriptures, I learned that some things are worth fighting for.

I was a preacher’s kid. I once overheard my dad at his desk asking God to help and guide and bless a man I had just seen storm out of his office, slamming the door behind him. My father prayed as though he were praying for a friend, and I learned what it means to love an enemy.

I was a preacher’s kid. When I grew up to be a preacher’s wife and called my mother to cry about a problem and said, “But this never happened to you!” she laughed a little and asked, “Don’t you remember when . . .” and I didn’t remember–not at all. I learned that preacher’s kids can be shielded from what’s happening outside their happy home. And that’s a good thing.

I was a preacher’s kid. When I hear that a church or a school they started from nothing is growing and thriving, or when I come across folks they led to Christ long ago and they love me now just because my parents loved them then, I learn what it means to reap blessings someone else has sown.

I was a preacher’s kid. If you want to learn what’s important, there’s no better way to grow up. I’d like to tell your children that, but they’re not here right now. Maybe you could tell them for me.

The number ten represents us… Gentiles.

The first occurrence is in Genesis 8 when God is dealing with Noah who was the tenth from Adam and the Father of the Gentiles. Gentiles are known to count by multiples of ten.

The first Gentile kingdom is started in Genesis 10. And the last Gentile kingdom in the Bible has ten nations in it (Daniel 2).

There are several significant tenth chapters in the Bible:

• In Acts 10 we find the opening of the Gospel to the Gentiles
• In John 10, Christ speaks to Jewish disciples of “other sheep” referring to Gentiles
• In Romans 10, the missionary call was given to the Gentiles
• In Revelation 10, Christ puts His feet on the earth and takes possession of the Gentile kingdom

There are 10 toes of Nebuchadnezzar’s image; ten horns of Daniel’s fourth beast that point to the 10 kings of kingdoms; there are 10 horns that typify John’s beast in Revelation 17. We see the summing up of Gentile world rule only to be destroyed when Christ smashes the 10 toes above.

The tithe is 1/10th of a person’s income. The tithe pre-dated and ante-dated the Jewish law and is thus for Gentiles, as well as, for Jews.

Fascinating? I think so!

Don’t try today; DO today!

The number nine represents “fruitfulness” in the Bible.

The first occurrence is found in connection with the number, 900. The first seven mentions of the word nine are in connection with “nine hundred” and refer to the age of the pre-flood patriarchs. Of course we know that these are the longest that men ever lived… how fruitful they must have been!

Nine is one number short of the Gentile “10″ and one number beyond the New Man and it is also what is kept for self when you give God a tenth.

Abraham was 99 years old when God makes the covenant with him to bear fruit.

There is a nine-fold “fruit of the Spirit,” Galatians 5:22-23, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,  23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.”

There are nine gifts of the Holy Spirit in I Corinthians 12.

In Genesis 9:9 we have the Noahic covenant that deals with replenishing the Earth. “And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you.”

Nine months is the gestation period for women to bring forth fruit.

Nine is a combination of three (Trinity) and six (man). I wonder if this is a possible reference to the God-Man which certainly was a fruitful combination. Perhaps we could even combine eight (New Beginning) and one (Unity) to yield or bring forth fruit.

Although the number nine is not a prominent number in the Bible, it does cause us to consider God’s intentions as He wrote His word.

Enjoy a super fantastic day today; don’t try today, DO today!

If the number seven represents completion or perfection, then the number eight refers to “newness” or a new beginning.

Consider that the first occurrence is with Noah and his family. They were a family of eight that would populate the New earth following the Great Flood. In Genesis 7:7 we find that there were eight family members.

The first time that we actually find the number eight is in Genesis 17:12, “And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger, which is not of thy seed.” This verse deals with circumcision on the eighth day of every Jewish male baby. Again, this illustrates new life.

The seven sons of Jesse are listed in the Old Testament but the eighth son, David, is a type of Christ and introduced a new order in Israel.

The eighth day is the beginning of a new week. The Jewish Sabbath was on the seventh day. Jesus rose the eighth day and introduced a new order.

The sheaf of the first fruits was to be waved before the Lord on the eighth day or “the morrow after the Sabbath,” I Corinthians 15:23.

The Feast of Pentecost was begun on the eighth day and signified the sending of the Holy Spirit who ushered in a new dispensation.

After seven dispensations have run their course, there will be a New Heaven and a New Earth.

I hope you find numerology in the Bible as interesting as I do?

Enjoy a super fantastic day – today!

We know that the number seven represents completion or perfection. The first occurrence is found in Genesis 2:2 when God finished His creation in just seven days.

Seven is a law of nature. Just think of the piano. there are seven notes and then they start over again. Even in art, you have three primary colors (red, yellow, blue) and four secondary colors (orange, green, purple, black).

Although Gentiles count by 10′s, God counts by 7′s.

Enoch was the seventh from Adam and God took him home without death.

There were seven days of grace after Noah entered the ark.

Think of Jericho… there were seven priests with seven trumpets marching with the people for seven days and then the walls fell! 777

A seven branched candlestick lit the holy place in the tabernacle.

The land was to rest every seven years.

Solomon was seven years building the Temple and then kept the feast for seven days.

Job has seven sons and when the “comforters” came they sat with them seven days and seven nights in silence. They then offered seven bullocks and seven rams in sacrifice.

Naaman washed seven times in the Jordan and was healed of leprosy. We know that leprosy is a type of sin.

In Leviticus 16:14 the blood was sprinkled seven times before the mercy seat.

There were seven feasts of Jehovah.

Christ spoke seven time from the cross.

There were seven men, “full of the Holy Ghost, who were chosen to serve the church in Acts 6.

Your body renews itself completely every seven years.

The book of Revelation is the book of completion; notice how many times the number seven is used… actually the number seven is used 50 times!

1. Revelation addresses the seven churches in Asia Minor.
2. Christ stands in the midst of seven golden candlesticks.
3. There are seven spirits before the throne.
4. There are seven “stars” or ministers in the seven churches.
5. A seven sealed book is opened by a lamb with seven horns and seven eyes.
6. The seven seals are broken.
7. The seven angels sound seven trumpets.
8. The seven angels pour out seven vials containing seven plagues.
9. There is a beast with seven heads.
10. There is a dragon with seven heads and seven crowns.
11. There is a city sitting on seven mountains.

There are seven dispensations and then a New Heaven and Earth.

There are seven permanent gifts of the spirit in Romans 12.

God is a perfect God! Amen!

Don’t try today; DO today!

The number six has always represented man. The first occurrence is found in Genesis 7:6 where Noah is 600 years old. “And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth.”

On the sixth day, Adam was created.

When Pharaoh chased the people, he used 600 chosen chariots. 600 men is used often although the reason seems unclear to me.

There were six days of creation. Men are to work six days and rest on the seventh.

There are six names each on two stones. Exodus 28:10, “Six of their names on one stone, and the other six names of the rest on the other stone, according to their birth.”

In II Samuel 21:20 we see that the giants have six fingers and six toes and are pictured as super-men. “And there was yet a battle in Gath, where was a man of great stature, that had on every hand six fingers, and on every foot six toes, four and twenty in number; and he also was born to the giant.”

A type of anti-Christ has his throne with six steps and six lions on one side and six on the other. Thus we often read about 666. The number 666 represents fallen man at his best. The true God-Man would be 777.

Solomon’s gold for one year was 666 talents!

In Revelation 13:18 we read that the Anti-Christ has a number of 666.

We are living in the sixth dispensation or man’s last chance before Christ returns to set up His kingdom.

Very interesting…

Don’t try today; DO today!