If I Were The Devil

Read this in our church bulletin Sunday. It is from Paul Harvey:

I would gain control of the most powerful nation in the world;

I would delude their minds into thinking that they had come from man's
effort, instead of God's blessings;

I would promote an attitude of loving things and using people, instead of
the other way around;

I would dupe entire states into relying on gambling for their state revenue;

I would convince people that character is not an issue when it comes to
leadership;

I would make it legal to take the life of unborn babies;

I would make it socially acceptable to take one's own life, and invent
machines to make it convenient;

I would cheapen human life as much as possible so that life of animals are
valued more than human beings;

I would take God out of the schools, where even the mention of His name was
grounds for a lawsuit;

I would come up with drugs that sedate the mind and target the young, and I
would get sports heroes to advertise them;

I would get control of the media, so that every night I could pollute the
minds of every family member for my agenda;

I would attack then family, the backbone of any nation. I would make
divorce acceptable and easy, even fashionable. If the family crumbles, so
does the nation;

I would compel people to express their most depraved fantasies on canvas and
movies screens, and I would call it art;

I would convince the world that people are born homosexuals, and that their
lifestyles should be accepted and marveled;

I would convince the people that right and wrong are determined by a few who
call themselves authorities and refer to their agendas as politically
correct;

I would persuade people that the church is irrelevant and out of date, the
Bible is for the naive:

I would dull the minds of Christians, and make them believe that prayer is
not important, and that faithfulness and obedience are optional;

I GUESS I WOULD LEAVE THINGS PRETTY MUCH THE WAY THEY ARE!

Rejected Pick-Up Lines

I once taught a Sunday School lesson to the youth in which I gave them rejection lines for pick up lines they may receive.

Here are some of them:

Man: I would go to the end of the world for you.
Woman: But would you stay there?

Man: Where have you been all my life?
Woman: Hiding from you.

Man: Haven't I seen you someplace before?
Woman: Yes, that's why I don't go there anymore.

Man: Is this seat empty?
Woman: Yes, and this one will be too if you sit down.

Man: I want to give myself to you.

Woman: Sorry, I don’t accept cheap gifts.

There are also designated phone numbers you could give to people that you don’t like that may request your phone number called Rejection Hotlines. The other person doesn’t know it’s a rejection number until they dial it. Here is one of them >212-660-2245, try it!

The purpose of the lesson was to discuss dealing with rejection. Rejection doesn’t come primarily from dealing with the opposite sex, but can also come from employment rejection, rejection from leaders (teachers, parents, etc) and rejection from peers.

John 1 tells us that Jesus went to his own people and his own people rejected him. He was the stone that the builders rejected and became the cornerstone itself!

But my favorite is this, Romans 8:31, “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? “

While we will never be away from rejection, we can learn to not let it define who we are!

Awkward Moments

I read a story about a man named John Paul Jones. He was captain of the USS Ranger that had been given the first official salute from a foreign (French) ship in recognition of America’s independence and its newly adopted “Stars and Stripes” flag.

The story was about an altercation that was between Captain Jones and a larger British ship. Knowing that his ship was smaller and had fewer guns aboard, he made every effort to get side by side with his and the British ship.

An awkward moment came as the men were waiting for the ships to angle themselves properly. There were no guns shooting and no men shouting when the British captain taunts Captain Jones by telling him to surrender.

Captain Jones replied, “I have not yet begun to fight!”

It reminded me of the story of Mordecai. He offended a high ranking political advisor by not bowing to him. The advisor later asked the king to kill Mordecai and all his people. But Mordecai was a cousin of the queen and the queen spoke of how Mordecai saved the king. The king then asked his advisor how he should honor a man who pleased the king.

Thinking the king was talking about himself, the advisor shared that he should put a royal robe on him and mount him upon a royal horse escorting him through the city proclaiming how the king approved of him. The king then ordered him to carry it out for Mordecai. The man he hated.

These are two awkward stories that can really make us think. But there is one awkward scenario that wouldn’t be good for us to go through. That scenario is standing at judgment while the book of life is opened and our name is being searched for.

Do everything you can to prevent that awkward moment!