Bible study on second chances

Second Chances

I have known and respected Neal Pollard since we were classmates at Faulkner University in the 1980s.  I did not know until recently of what he calls his “second chance.”  Here is part of his story:

We were living in Cairo, Georgia, and I was in the third grade.  It was during a game of kickball on the playground and I was the "pitcher."  A kid kicked it hard and I caught it.  As the ball hit me in the gut, I felt a sharp pain.  Something wasn't right.  My parents took me that week to see the local doctor.  He thought it might be a hernia.  Exploratory surgery in Thomasville instead revealed a tumor on my liver.  My parents and I flew to Atlanta, Georgia, where I was checked into Egleston Children's Hospital.  Extensive testing there and in Emory Hospital, the general campus for Egleston, led my team of doctors to the same conclusion: it was cancerous.  They tried to prepare my parents for how slim my chance of survival was.  Even if their diagnosis was wrong, surgery and attending blood loss may well be more than I could stand.  My parents maintained great faith, and my dad solicited prayers from congregations all over the place.  [After the surgery], Dr. Gerald Zwiren, who led a team of highly-skilled doctors, brought the news to my parents that I survived the surgery and later shared the oncology report that my tumor was benign.  That was close to 40 years ago and to this point I have never had further complications.  I certainly received a second chance.

Periodically, I ponder at length what I have done with that second chance.  The scar I bear from that surgery has long since become invisible to my daily view.  I suffer no lingering consequences.  That event is certainly not why I chose to become a preacher, as if to try and pay a debt to God for saving me.  Sadly, despite His mercy in sparing me, I have sinned in ways great and small that reveal, in addition to all else, a failure to appreciate that blessing.  Spiritually, whether as a preacher, husband, father, or Christian, I am saddled with the realization of how far I have to go.  With the help of His Word, His providence, and His strength, I continue to try to make the most of this extra time He gave me back in 1979. *

Consider a similarity from Neal’s experience to our own condition…

Because of our sins, we find ourselves lost and doomed to destruction.  As Neal writes, “By all human calculations and efforts, nothing could be done to save us.”

But God loves us so much that He gave His Son Jesus to die for us so that we might have the forgiveness of our sins and receive the gift of eternal life (John 3:16; Romans 6:23).

Although we are lost due to our sins, God gives us “a second chance.”

God will save and give eternal life to those who place their faith and trust in Jesus (Acts 16:30-31), turn from their sins in repentance (Acts 17:30-31), confess Jesus before men (Romans 10:9-10), and are baptized (immersed) into Christ for the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38).  The redeeming blood that Jesus shed on the cross will continue to cleanse those who continue to walk in the light of His Word (1 John 1:7).

God is the God of second chances.  Take Neal’s words to heart:  “You may have messed things up badly in your life.  You may feel that it is impossible for God to love and forgive you.  [But] God is the God of the second chance!  His diagnosis is perfect, and His is the only one that counts!  Trust in the Great Physician.  He has never lost a patient who followed His prescription!”

Won’t YOU trust and obey the Great Physician and make the most of the “second chance” that He provides in Christ?                                                                                                               

– David A. Sargent

* Neal Pollard, “What Do We Make Of God's Second Chances?”

David A. Sargent

It’s always too soon to quit

    It’s Too Soon to Quit!                         

    I like what David T. Scoates said about quitting – “It’s always too soon to quit.” Of course, if you’re doing something wrong, you ought to quit immediately. But when it comes to doing good and doing right and doing God’s will, “It’s always too soon to quit.”

   The apostle Paul didn’t say it in exactly the same words, but he taught that when it comes to serving God and preaching the gospel of Christ, it’s always  too soon to quit. In 2 Corinthians chapter 4, in speaking of his ministry and efforts to preach Christ in the face of stiff criticism and disheartening discouragement and opposition, Paul twice wrote, “We do not lose heart” (vs 1, 16).  In between those two statements he lists a number of things that could have discouraged and demoralized him – not the least of which was the devil and his relentless efforts to blind people’s minds to the gospel (vs 3-4).

   And he talks about being “hard pressed on every side, yet not crushed. . . perplexed, but not in despair . . .  persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus” (verses 8-10). Yet he wouldn’t quit.

    Christ was too magnificent, the gospel was too important, and his own soul and the souls of countless others were at stake. It was tough – but it was always too soon to quit. Paul’s response in the face of critics reminds me a story about Colonel George Washington Goethals who is best known for his administration and supervision of the construction and opening of the Panama Canal. He faced huge problems with the climate and geography during the titanic project. But his biggest challenge was the increasing criticism back home from those who predicted he would never finish the project. A friend asked him, “Aren’t you going to answer your critics?”  Goethals assured him he would, in time. The friend asked, “But when?”  And Goethals said confidently and resolutely, “When the canal is finished.”

   Many years ago I received a phone call from a friend and brother in Christ, an enthusiastic Christian and a great servant to the church. He owned a successful business but also took great interest in the Lord’s business and in preachers of the gospel. He knew that at the time I had been laboring in the Lord’s vineyard for several years with a small congregation in an area where the Lord’s church was not widely known or numerically strong. From his home hundreds of miles away he called me up out of the blue one Monday morning and said, “Hello, Brother!

It’s Monday morning, and I’m calling to talk you out of quitting the ministry!” He was half-joking but half-serious, and explained his frequent practice of calling a gospel preacher on Monday morning to talk him out of quitting! We talked about the difficulties preachers face inside and outside the church. I was younger then and laughed off his talk about talking me out of quitting. 

     Many years later, I do not want or intend to ever quit, but the problems and challenges are real. And so, let me say to preachers, elders, deacons, Bible teachers, and members of the church seeking to go to heaven – we serve the same glorious Christ Paul did. Heaven is still real, hell is still hot, and eternity is forever. Souls are at stake – beginning with our own. In spite of all the discouragement and difficulties, let us push on to the finish. And if you fall down, get up and go again. It’s always too soon to quit.

--by Dan Gulley,

Smithville, TN

The Tyranny Of The Urgent by Charles Hummel

"Freedom From The Tyrant"

A tyrant, most of us understand, is an oppressive ruler. He may oppress through heavy taxation, or it may be through physical demands - forced servitude. Few of us likely have any direct experience with such an overlord. We are Americans, after all; we live in the land of the free.

But not all tyrants are human, and there is one that thrives in the American culture. His name is "Urgent", and I have often bowed at his feet, despite my frequent resolutions to break free from him.

"The Tyranny Of The Urgent" is the name of a book written by Charles Hummel in 1994. Hummel appears to have struck a nerve with this concept, though he was hardly the first to recognize the problem with which many of us struggle. Stephen R. Covey, in "The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People" (1989) urged readers to recognize the difference between things that are "urgent" and those that are "important". Most of our time, he suggests, is spent chasing urgent matters, though they are seldom important.

Urgent matters might include checking and responding to email throughout the day, or perusing the latest news on social media. Important matters (often neglected) include visiting family and friends, or taking time to read good books. The tyrant often prevents us from doing things we know, deep down, we should be doing.

Was anyone in greater demand than Jesus? In Luke 4, we read of how busy His life was: "When the sun was setting, all those who had any that were sick with various diseases brought them to Him; and He laid His hands on every one of them and healed them" (Luke 4:40). But we read soon after, "Now when it was day, He departed and went into a deserted place" (Luke 4:42).

What would Jesus be doing in a place like that? Almost certainly the same thing He did on a similar occasion. After feeding the 5,000, "Immediately Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side ... He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray ..." (Matthew 14:22,23). The busiest Man on earth knew how important it was to nurture His relationship with God. He refused to submit to the tyrant!

Psalm 46:10 speaks powerfully to a culture that attempts to squeeze every second out of the clock hanging over it: "Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!." Yes, being still in the presence of God will cut into our Internet and television time. But why must we be so devoted to pursuits that yield so little satisfaction and benefit?!

Perhaps it is time for us to break free from the tyrant who has been controlling our lives.

Come to the light God offers! Study His word, the Bible. Worship Him in spirit and truth (John 4:24). Get in touch with us if you'd like to discuss these ideas further.

How to become a Christian

LIVING WATER (Text Version)

An Outreach Publication of the Church of Christ

The Gift of Us

Marjorie Tallcott was married and had one child during the Great Depression.  The family managed to scrape their way through, but as Christmas approached one year Marjorie and her husband were disappointed that they would not be able to buy any presents.  A week before Christmas they explained to their six year old son, Pete, that there would be no store-bought presents this Christmas.  “But I’ll tell you what we can do,” said Pete’s father, “we can make pictures of the presents we’d like to give to each other.”

That was a busy week.  Marjorie and her husband set to work.  Christmas Day arrived and the family rose to find their skimpy little tree made magnificent by the picture presents they had adorned it with.  There was luxury beyond imagination in those pictures – a black limousine and red speedboat for Dad, a diamond bracelet and fur coat for Mom, a camping tent and a swimming pool for Pete.

Then Pete pulled out his present: a crayon drawing of a man, a woman and a child with their arms around each other laughing. Under the picture was just one word: “US”.

Years later Marjorie writes that it was the richest, most satisfying Christmas they ever had.

It took a present-less Christmas to remind Marjorie and her family that the greatest gift we can ever offer is ourselves, our presence. *

Our sins separate us from God (Isaiah 59:1-2) and place us on the path to eternal destruction (Matthew 7:13-14).

But God loves us so much that He offers to us “His Presence.”  God put on human flesh in the Person of Jesus (John 1:14) to come and live among us and then to go to the cross as our perfect representative to die for our sins (2 Corinthians 5:21).  Because of His atoning sacrifice, we may have salvation from our sins (Ephesians 1:7), the gift of eternal life (Romans 6:23), and the presence of His indwelling Spirit (Acts 2:38).

In order to accept God’s offer of salvation and eternal life, we must place our faith and trust in Jesus (Acts 16:30-31), turn from our sins in repentance (Acts 17:30-31), confess Jesus before men (Romans 10:9-10), and be baptized (immersed) into Christ for the forgiveness of our sins (Acts 2:38).  Then, as we walk in the light of His Word, the blood of Jesus continues to cleanse us from sin (1 John 1:7).

Jesus came to this world and died for us so that God and we can become “US” – reconciled to God and together in God’s family with the hope of living eternally with Him in heaven.

Won’t YOU accept God’s offer on His terms?

-- David A. Sargent

* Source: Reported in Illustrations Unlimited and quoted in StoriesforPreaching.com

David A. Sargent