The Sermon
AUTHOR UNKNOWN
Donated by: Dennis Crawford ..... Thank you :-)After a few of the usual Sunday evening hymns,
the church's Pastor slowly stood up,
walked over to the pulpit, and before he gave his
sermon for the evening, briefly introduced a guest
minister who was in the service that evening.In the introduction, the Pastor told the congregation
that the guest minister was one of his dearest
childhood friends and that he wanted him to have a
few moments to greet the church and share whatever he
felt would be appropriate for the service. With that,
an elderly man stepped up to the pulpit and began to speak."A father, his son, and a friend of his son were
sailing off the pacific coast," he began, "when a fast
approaching storm blocked any attempt to get back to the
shore. The waves were so high that even though the
father was an experienced sailor, could not keep the boat
upright and the three were swept into the ocean as the
boat capsized."The old man hesitated for a moment, making eye contact
with two teenagers who were, for the first time since the
service began, looking somewhat interested in his story.
The aged minister continued with his story."Grabbing a rescue line, the father had to make the most
excruciating decision of his life: To which boy he would
throw the other end of the life line. He only had seconds
to make the decision. The father knew that his son was a
christian and he also knew that his son's friend was not.The agony of his decision could not be matched by the
torrent of waves. "As the father yelled out, 'I LOVE YOU,
SON!' He threw out the life line to his son's friend. By
the time the father had pulled the friend back to the
capsized boat, his son had disappeared beneath the raging
swells into the black of night. His body was never
recovered."By this time, the two teenagers were sitting up straight
in the pew, anxiously waiting for the next words to come
out of the old minister's mouth."The father," he continued, "knew his son would step into
eternity with jesus and he could not bear the thought of
his son's friend stepping into an eternity without jesus.
Therefore, he sacrificed his son to save the son's friend.
how great is the love of God that he should do the same
for us. Our heavenly Father sacrificed his only begotten
son that we could be saved. I urge you to accept his offer
to rescue you and take a hold of the life line he is
throwing out to you in this service."With that, the old man turned and sat back down in his chair
as silence filled the room. The Pastor again walked slowly to
the pulpit and delivered a brief sermon with an invitation at
the end. However, no one responded to the appeal. Within minutes
after the service ended, the two teenagers were at the old man's
side."That was a nice story," politely stated one of the boys,
"but i don't think it was very realistic for a father
to give up his only son's life in hopes that the other boy
would become a christian.""Well, you've got a point there," the old man replied, glancing
down at his worn bible. A big smile broadened his narrow face,
he once again looked up at the boys and said, "it sure isn't very
realistic, is it? But i'm standing here today to tell you that
story gives me a glimpse of what it must have been like for God
to give up his son for me. You see --- I was that father and
your Pastor is my son's friend."If you have come to this page in a frame from another site,
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