Live the Christian Faith: Berean Style! Part 1
Carl shares a real life story and how it encouraged him to appreciate the Lord even more!
And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.
Acts 16:31
Recently my wife took the car in for an oil change and tire rotation. After doing the work, the mechanic told my wife that we soon would need new tires. He told her that the tires may get through the winter but definitely would need to changed in the spring. Of course, I’m concerned for the safety of my family and want everybody driving the safest car possible. Therefore, we set up an appointment to get new tires.
As we were doing this I just so happened to look at the paperwork that we had from when we bought tires the last time. On there it told me that we had a 50,000 mile warranty. I went and checked the odometer and we’d only driven 24,000 miles. SCORE! We get free tires, yes!
Hmmm! Not so fast. I called the tire company and explained what I’d just discovered. The kind lady on the other end of the phone asked me which tires had we bought, and I told her. She said, “O.k., that’s a problem. I’ve heard that from some others who bought the same tire. Please bring your car in and we’ll call the manufacturer to see what we can do.”
When I brought the car in, the manager looked at the tires and our paperwork. After the inspection he told us that we did indeed need new tires. The difficulty was this, in the fine print on the warranty it clearly stated that we were required to have the rotation of the tires recorded on a form that was on the back of the original paperwork. We hadn’t done that, so they weren’t required to abide by the warranty.
When I got home after everything was finished I was talking to Masami I told her that I was glad that God didn’t give us a “warranty” like this. When someone asks me to sign something, I always try to include Isaiah 41:10-13.
10 ‘Do not fear, for I am with you;
Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you, surely I will help you,
Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’
11 “Behold, all those who are angered at you will be shamed and dishonored;
Those who contend with you will be as nothing and will perish.
12 “You will seek those who quarrel with you, but will not find them,
Those who war with you will be as nothing and non-existent.
13 “For I am the Lord your God, who upholds your right hand,
Who says to you, ‘Do not fear, I will help you.’
The reason I do that is to remind myself that the Lord is there. He will NEVER leave me or forsake me. (Hebrews 13:5) Christian, aren’t you glad that what you and I have been given doesn’t have fine print that if it isn’t followed to the “t” excludes us from an eternity with our Savior?
As a matter of fact, what we have been given is just the opposite. In today’s world it seems that we’ve always got to be “on guard.” If someone tells us something that just seems to be too good to be true, it probably is. The Gospel of Jesus Christ isn’t like that at all. Look again at Acts 16:31, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, an thou shalt be saved,” That’s pretty straight forward.
Now, here’s the trick that we run into in this world; who is Jesus Christ, and what does “believe” mean? For the sake of brevity, this will be in three parts. In Part 2 we will deal with which “Jesus” Paul and Silas meant in Acts 16:31 and in Part 3 what does “believe” mean?
By the way, the store manager was very kind. He worked with us and helped lower the price on some new tires so we could afford to replace them. He didn’t have to do that as we had not kept our end of the bargain. He showed us “grace!” Hmmm, maybe we need a Part 4!!
Anyway, we left happy and will return to the store with future business. I’m just praising God that I didn’t let the flesh take over. As I sat in the waiting room a couple of other folks came in. One lady had lost her hot water heater that morning, and on her drive to her mom’s home to take a shower, had car trouble so she had to come to the shop. Well, one thing led to another and in the course of conversation the next thing I know the 4 of us sitting in the waiting room were praying for this lady. God is good, don’t let the flesh take over and miss out on an opportunity to represent the Lord! Stay bold.
Stay Bold!
And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.
Acts 16:31
Recently my wife took the car in for an oil change and tire rotation. After doing the work, the mechanic told my wife that we soon would need new tires. He told her that the tires may get through the winter but definitely would need to changed in the spring. Of course, I’m concerned for the safety of my family and want everybody driving the safest car possible. Therefore, we set up an appointment to get new tires.
As we were doing this I just so happened to look at the paperwork that we had from when we bought tires the last time. On there it told me that we had a 50,000 mile warranty. I went and checked the odometer and we’d only driven 24,000 miles. SCORE! We get free tires, yes!
Hmmm! Not so fast. I called the tire company and explained what I’d just discovered. The kind lady on the other end of the phone asked me which tires had we bought, and I told her. She said, “O.k., that’s a problem. I’ve heard that from some others who bought the same tire. Please bring your car in and we’ll call the manufacturer to see what we can do.”
When I brought the car in, the manager looked at the tires and our paperwork. After the inspection he told us that we did indeed need new tires. The difficulty was this, in the fine print on the warranty it clearly stated that we were required to have the rotation of the tires recorded on a form that was on the back of the original paperwork. We hadn’t done that, so they weren’t required to abide by the warranty.
When I got home after everything was finished I was talking to Masami I told her that I was glad that God didn’t give us a “warranty” like this. When someone asks me to sign something, I always try to include Isaiah 41:10-13.
10 ‘Do not fear, for I am with you;
Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you, surely I will help you,
Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’
11 “Behold, all those who are angered at you will be shamed and dishonored;
Those who contend with you will be as nothing and will perish.
12 “You will seek those who quarrel with you, but will not find them,
Those who war with you will be as nothing and non-existent.
13 “For I am the Lord your God, who upholds your right hand,
Who says to you, ‘Do not fear, I will help you.’
The reason I do that is to remind myself that the Lord is there. He will NEVER leave me or forsake me. (Hebrews 13:5) Christian, aren’t you glad that what you and I have been given doesn’t have fine print that if it isn’t followed to the “t” excludes us from an eternity with our Savior?
As a matter of fact, what we have been given is just the opposite. In today’s world it seems that we’ve always got to be “on guard.” If someone tells us something that just seems to be too good to be true, it probably is. The Gospel of Jesus Christ isn’t like that at all. Look again at Acts 16:31, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, an thou shalt be saved,” That’s pretty straight forward.
Now, here’s the trick that we run into in this world; who is Jesus Christ, and what does “believe” mean? For the sake of brevity, this will be in three parts. In Part 2 we will deal with which “Jesus” Paul and Silas meant in Acts 16:31 and in Part 3 what does “believe” mean?
By the way, the store manager was very kind. He worked with us and helped lower the price on some new tires so we could afford to replace them. He didn’t have to do that as we had not kept our end of the bargain. He showed us “grace!” Hmmm, maybe we need a Part 4!!
Anyway, we left happy and will return to the store with future business. I’m just praising God that I didn’t let the flesh take over. As I sat in the waiting room a couple of other folks came in. One lady had lost her hot water heater that morning, and on her drive to her mom’s home to take a shower, had car trouble so she had to come to the shop. Well, one thing led to another and in the course of conversation the next thing I know the 4 of us sitting in the waiting room were praying for this lady. God is good, don’t let the flesh take over and miss out on an opportunity to represent the Lord! Stay bold.
Stay Bold!
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