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&In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths&

"Keep The Faith?"

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"For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek."  Romans 1:16.  How many times have you ever heard someone say, "Keep the faith."?  I have heard this statement many times and it sounds like a truly spiritual thing.  But friends, it is my prayer that this little article will not only serve as a very real and lasting blessing to those who will read it, but that it will show just how not only un-spiritual, but dangerous this statement is.

On the machines where I work, there is a light bar that hangs above the machine which tells by means of lights what's going on.  For example, if the machine stops at the trimmer because of a jam up, the light would read, "trimmer jam".  On the different machines, the operators (which is the title of the job I do) have had different statements programmed into these lights to be shown when the machine is running and all is well.  Some of these statements on other machines read, "Go Braves" and "Smokin'" and a variety of things like that.  On my machine however, I had the technicians to program this light bar to read, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son."  There wasn't room in the program for the rest of the verse which is John 3:16, but when the machine is running, these words are continuously scrolling above my machine.  Now, I have had many comments made about this sign, and some of them have been positive and some have been negative, but so far no one has objected to the point of this sign causing a controversy.  Last week while I was on vacation, the other two operators were working over and coming in early to cover my absence.  When I returned to work this past Monday, one of these operators asked me if I knew a certain man and I told him that I didn't.  He then asked me to be praying for this man, because he felt the Lord was dealing with his heart.  He went on to explain that while I was out the man had worked on my machine and had been reading the sign scrolling above the machine.  He said the man had come up to him and asked, "Who's the Christian over here?"  He said he told the man that there were several of us, but that he was one of them.  He said the man went on to explain that the reason he was asking was that he had been reading the sign and he said that he then asked the man if he was saved.  Then he said the man's reply was, "No but I need to be."  He said he then got busy and didn't get to talk with him more.  He went on to explain that the man had been in prison and had led a pretty rough life.  I reminded him of the Apostle Paul and the life that he had led and how that the Lord had used and is still using him today.  Then I assured him that I indeed would pray for this man and I asked him if the man was on my shift.  He said the man worked what they call 4-crew which means he works 12 hours per day, but they only work 3 or 4 days per week.

I did pray for this man and the Lord seemed to be telling me that I should be praying with him.  The other operator had told me that the man he spoke of was a black man, so I went to a black lady the Lord had so graciously used me to lead to Jesus and who has since become quite a partner in Christ.  I asked her if she knew this man and she said she remembered him working on our machine last week.  I told her that I wanted her to be praying for this man and to be praying for me, because I hoped to be witnessing to him.  Then I asked her to try and find out what machine he worked on and when he would be working.  It wasn't long before she came back and told me the machine and said that he was working then and that he would be getting off at 7:00 o'clock.  I handed her a tract and told her to take it to him and to tell him that I would like to talk with him.  She took the tract and came back and said that he told her he would come and talk with me when he got off work.  About 15 minutes before time for him to get off, I went to the machine where this man was working and introduced myself.  I told him that the other operator had told me that he mentioned my sign above my machine and that I would like to speak with him about his soul.  I presented the gospel to him and indeed the Lord had been dealing with his heart and was calling him.  He eagerly received the gospel and God most graciously saved him. 

Friend, indeed the statement, "Keep the faith" sounds spiritual, but if the spirit of God is within a person, it cannot and should not ever be kept.  I can't think of anything in this world that would make a person more miserable than to love someone and not be able to tell them.  It would truly be agony to be around that person and not be able to just say, "I love you."  I believe one of, if not the, truest statements ever uttered by mortal man is, "People will never care how much you know until they know how much you care."  I gave this little illustration as the Lord has given it to me, not to say that I deserve any credit or praise in the work that God did in this man's heart and life, but to try and help others to see that faith, true faith, is not something to be kept, but to be shared.  If you have truly excepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour, above all, praise God, and then share it with those who have not.  If you have not received Jesus Christ into your heart and life, please know for certain that I truly do love you and I do care.  But listen, God loves you more than I could ever hope to and He does care so much more than I could ever care.  So much so that as the sign above my machine reads, "He gave His only begotten Son, that you should not perish, but have everlasting life."  Now, I realize that I have paraphrased that a little bit, but be assured that if you were the only sinner on this earth, God loves you so much that He would have sent Jesus Christ to die for just you.  Friend, I don't care and neither does God if you have been to prison like the man I just told you about, or whatever your sins may be.  None of that matters for neither God nor I would have you die and spend eternity in hell.  Whatever your sins may be, none of them will be what sends your soul crashing into hell.  God, Who is righteous and will someday judge this world, loves you so much that He took off His robe of judgment and came down to this world in the form of sinful man, only without sin and He alone took the sins of this whole world, (yours and mine included) upon His shoulders as He hung there upon that cross and laid down His life for us.  God's Word says, "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;".  Romans 3:23.  All means everybody.  You have sinned and I have sinned and everyone else has sinned.  The lie Satan has instilled in the heart and mind of everyone is that we are sinners because we sin.  And when we try our very best to do good and be righteous, we still find ourselves coming short of the glory of God.  No, my friend, the truth is, we sin because we are sinners.  That's what sinners do.  Now, God's Word also says, "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Romans 6:23.  We all have sinned and do sin, because we are sinners and the penalty for those sins is death.  But friend, God loved you so much that as the sign reads above my machine, He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.  You are a sinner, not because you sin, but because you were born with the nature of sin in you.  Without accepting the love that God showed for you as He lay down His life for yours, you will die in your sins and spend eternity in the lake of fire which is hell.  If however, you will accept that love and believe in Him, He will forgive your every sin, past, present and future and give to you eternal life through Jesus Christ.  How may you receive this?  God's Word says, "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved."  Romans 10:9.  Friend, God's Word goes on to declare, "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."  Romans 10:13.  There's that word whosoever again. That's you.  Receive Him now!!!  God bless you!