All He Had

Hurricane Katrina Relief Effort - Mobile, AL

The story has been told of a rice farmer who saved an entire village from destruction. From his hilltop farm he felt the tremor of an earthquake and saw the distant ocean swiftly withdraw from the old shoreline, like some enormous animal crouching back for a leap. He knew that “the leap” would be a TIDAL WAVE. In the valley below, he saw his neighbors working low fields that would soon be flooded. They must run quickly to his hilltop or they would all die. His rice barns were dry as tinder.... 

So with a torch he set fire to his barns and soon the fire bell started ringing. His neighbors saw the smoke and rushed to help him. Then from their safe perch they 
saw the tidal wave wash over the fields they had just left. In a flash they knew not only WHO  had saved them but WHAT  their salvation had cost their benefactor. They later erected a monument to his memory bearing the motto, "He gave us all he had, and gave gladly."

The SAME words could be said of our heavenly Father and the GIFT of his only begotten Son!

Looking down upon His creation, God saw the terrible predicament of man due to his sin: “the wages of sin is DEATH” (Romans 6:23).  God loved humanity, so He determined to offer a way of salvation.  Man’s salvation, however, would require payment of a great price at great personal cost, and that price He lovingly paid: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).  

High on a hilltop in Jerusalem , God’s Son, Jesus, “bore OUR sins in His own body on the tree” (1 Peter 2:24), a cruel CROSS.  Through this “indescribable gift” 
(2 Corinthians 9:15) God will save US from our sins, -IF- we will accept that Gift on 
His terms.

God has promised that He will save those who: place their faith in Christ (Acts 16:30-31), turn from their sins in repentance (Acts 17:30-31), confess Jesus before men (Romans 10:9-10), and be baptized (immersed) in the name of Christ for the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38).  He has promised that He will continue to save those who: continue to follow His revealed will (1 John 1:7).

The cross of Christ reminds us, “He gave us ALL He had, and gave gladly.”

Will YOU accept His gift?

David A. Sargent, Minister 

Church of Christ at Creekwood 
1901 Schillinger Rd. S.
Mobile, Alabama  36695

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