John 10:7-10. A better choice for a better life
Eric A. Snyder , Minister, Farwell Church of Christ
December 23, 2001
In an average lifetime, the average American spends 3 years in business meetings, 13 years watching TV, Spends $89,281 on food, consumes 109,354 pounds of food, Makes 1811 trips to McDonalds, Spends $6881 in vending machines, Eats 35,138 cookies and 1483 pounds of candy, Catches 304 colds, Is involved in 6 motor vehicle accidents, is hospitalized 8 times (men) or 12 times (women), Spends 24 years sleeping
A few years ago 33-year-old truck driver Larry Walters made national news. Larry had a habit of spending his weekends in his Los Angeles backyard, just south of LA International Airport, drinking...Pepsi...and eating peanut butter sandwiches. He would sit in his favorite lawn
staring at the houses around him in the subdivision where he lived. Not a real exciting life.
One day abject boredom prompted Larry Walters to buy some balloons and a tank of helium. He figured on tying the balloons to his lawn chair, filling them with helium, and floating up for an aerial view of the neighborhood. He judged he’d get no higher than 100 feet, but just in case, he got out his BB gun and loaded it. He planned to regulate his altitude by shooting out a couple of balloons. I’m not sure how many six packs of...Pepsi...he had consumed when he came to that idea, but he decided it was worth a try.
So Larry Walters of Los Angeles went out and bought 45 big weather balloons, a huge tank of helium, and some rope. First he secured his lawn chair to the ground, then he filled the balloons with helium. One by one he tied them to his lawn chair. Before liftoff he went in the house and got another six-pack of...Pepsi, a couple of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and his BB gun. Then he went out and sat in his lawn chair. He had instructed his neighbors to cut the ropes securing the chair when he was ready. “Let’s go!” he yelled, and the ropes were cut.
But he didn’t go 100 feet. He went up 11,000 feet! Shot straight up in the air! And the BB gun? It was useless since he was using both hands to hang on to the chair for dear life.
He zoomed straight up into the landing pattern at LA Airport. The pilot of an approaching Continental DC 10 reported that he had just passed a man in a lawn chair, and the control tower told him to report in immediately upon landing. They thought the pilot might have been drinking a little too much...Pepsi. Can you imagine being a passenger in that plane? “Look, mom, out the window. There’s a man in a lawn chair!”
Eventually they sent up helicopters to rescue Larry Walters. They closed the airport and diverted all landings and takeoffs at LAX while they played tag with this fellow in his lawn chair at 11,000 feet. When they finally got him down, he was surrounded by TV crews, the police, fire and rescue squads, and plenty of curious people. It was a major event.
“Were you scared?” asked one of the TV reporters, thrusting a mike in his face.
“No, not really” said Larry.
“Are you going to do it again?” asked another reporter.
“No,” said Larry.
“What in the world made you do it the first time?”
Larry Walters thought about it for a moment and said, “Well, you can’t just sit there.”
All of us long for excitement in this life.
Albert Schweitzer said, "The tragedy of life is what dies inside a man while he lives."
Where do you search for significance and meaning?
Sheila Larson a nurse, I believe in God, I’m not a religious fanatic, I can’t remember the last time I went to church. My faith has carried me a long way. It’s Sheilaism. Just my own little voice.
This false religion has even crept into the hearts of Jesus true followers
It’s been told so many times that we can no longer distinguish fact from fiction.
Repetition does not transform a lie into truth. FDR
Who do you listen to as a voice of spiritual authority in your life?
Have you subscribed to your own set of personalized beliefs
Have you accepted the truth of Jesus?
While listening to a local radio station I recently heard the Cobbler shop in Alma as well as the Alma glass company spreading their own false religion.
The message they were sharing is that truth is whatever you believe it to be.
I think those folks need to stick with windows.
Truth is only found in Jesus. And in John 10 Jesus says
7 -10 Therefore Jesus said again, "I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep. All who ever came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
Prayer
A man who received a call from his wife just as she was about to fly home from Europe. “How’s my cat?” she asked.
“Dead.”
“Oh, honey, don’t be so honest. Why didn’t you break the news to me slowly? You’ve ruined my trip.”
“What do you mean?”
“You could have told me he was on the roof. And when I called you from Paris, you could have told me he was acting sluggish. Then when I called from London, you could have said he was sick, and when I called you from New York, you could have said he was at the vet. Then, when I arrived home, you could have said he was dead.”
The husband had never been exposed to such protocol but was willing to learn. “OK,” he said. “I’ll do better next time.”
“By the way,” she asked, “how’s Mom?”
There was a long silence, then he replied, “Uh, she’s on the roof.”
Jesus is truth, he doesn’t pull any punches, and He doesn’t wait to tell the truth.
If you want your life to count for something you have to begin living the truth. There are those who try to live the lie and listen to lies about eternal realities, but in the end Jesus says they will not go through His gate. According to Jesus he is the only way to God. Some will try other ways other roads but unless you come to him you will fail.
Christianity has taken a beating over this view. But we hold to it not because we want to but because some things are true weather you believe them or not.
Stanford Research Institute was studying the differences in vocational perceptions. They devised a short but succinct test. The first to be tested was an engineer. The researchers asked him: “What does two plus two make?” The engineer simply said, “In absolute terms: four.” After making their notes and dismissing him, they called an architect. To the same question, he responded, “Well, there are several possibilities: two and two make four, but so does three and one -- or two point five and one
point five -- they also make four. So, it is all a matter of choosing the right option.” The researchers thanked him and made their notes. Finally, they called an attorney. When he heard the question, he
looked around slyly, asked if he could close the door for privacy, and then came over close, leaned toward them and said, “Well, tell me, what would you like it to be?”
We cannot establish the Truth about Jesus by making it up there must be a source of authority on the matter of Jesus. Jesus is that authority. If you are looking for something real I encourage you to begin looking at who Jesus was and is.
There is a plethora of popular theory that says that Jesus was just a good teacher. Which is a bunch of bologna because if Jesus was not who he claimed to be he could have been proven clinically insane.
How many insane great teachers do you know of? One great preacher said that Jesus was a Liar, Lunatic or Lord.
DM Stearns was preaching in Philadelphia. At the close of the service a stranger came up to him and said, "I don’t like the way you spoke about the cross. I think that instead of emphasizing the death of Christ, it would be far better to preach Jesus, the teacher and example." Stearns replied, "If I presented Christ in that way, would you be willing to follow Him?" "I certainly would," said the stranger without hesitation. "All right then," said the preacher, "let’s take the first step. He did no sin. Can you claim that for yourself?" The man looked confused and somewhat surprised. "Why, no," he said. "I acknowledge that I do sin." Stearns replied, "Then your greatest need is to have a Savior, not an example!"
According to Him He was a truth teller one who brought healing to the minds and bodies of others. No wonder Peter said when asked who he was proclaimed “you are the Christ, The son of the living God”
Jesus is the way to heaven He says in this text that he is telling the truth and that he is the Gate.
In another text He says that no one comes to God without him. This is not because he desires to be the last Don. It is because he was the only one who has ever live in time and history who was able to take our sins from us. We cannot go to the father without Jesus.
Someone has calculated how a typical lifespan of 70 years is spent. Here is the estimate:
Sleep................23 years...........32.9%
Work.................16 years...........22.8%
TV....................8 years...........11.4%
Eating................6 years............8.6%
Travel................6 years............8.6%
Leisure.............4.5 years............6.5%
Illness...............4 years............5.7%
Dressing..............2 years............2.8%
Religion............0.5 years............0.7%
How will you Glorify God with your life
How will you let him bring fulfillment to what you live with every day?
Signal Ellen
Perhaps there is someone here who has looked for truth all of their life and no one has told you it could be found in Jesus and Jesus alone.
A preacher’s family had started putting up a nativity scene in their front yard. All of them were carrying out the little statues to put in the nativity scene. Finally everything was in place - Mary & Joseph & the manger & the baby, & angels & shepherds & all the barnyard animals.
Then little Scott came out carrying one of his favorite toys, the figure of the fierce Tyrannosaurus Rex, king of the dinosaurs. It was one of those plastic figures that you inflate, & in comparison to the other figures it was an enormous thing, towering over them all, & certainly not something to have in a nativity scene.
The Dad said, "I tried to tell him, ‘Scott, you have to take that back because it doesn’t belong there. Dinosaurs existed thousands of years before the baby Jesus, & it just doesn’t belong in a nativity scene.’"
But little Scott insisted, so they finally put it there behind all the other figures - a fierce dinosaur hovering over the manger & everything else.
Then he said, "As we stood back & looked at it, we realized that maybe that dinosaur says more than we realized. For over each of us there is this menacing character that threatens to rob us of all our joy & peace & cheer."
"But Christmas reminds us that the baby in the manger is stronger than all the dinosaurs in your life or mine. And God has given us the victory through the gift of His Son."
