Be A Witness

Hello everyone.  Praise the Lord!

Here is a fun story about witnessing to others about Jesus Christ, from an unknown source.

Text:  Mark 16:17-20; Acts 1:8.

Little league baseball/Google creative commons

 A few years back I coached my son’s Little League Team. We spent many hours practicing. We practiced and practiced and learned the fundamentals; how to hit, how to bunt, how to throw, how to pitch and catch. We learned all of the secret coaching signs.

 We honed our skills day after day in the summer sun. We could have practiced all summer but it would have been meaningless. I may have had a great team; Little League World Series contenders maybe, but unless we quit practicing and went out and met the opposition, I would never know. The team would never accomplish anything until they played a game. 

The act of playing the game after careful preparation is what the world is all about. Practicing and learning go for nothing if we don’t go out and use our skills. There comes a moment in time when we need to leave the safety of our pews and go out and meet the opposition and win them over.

William James Roop

Hospice Care and Dying

The Trucking Tango

Author Page

Brother Roop teaches the Bible

How Do You Want To Be Remembered?

Hello everyone.  Praise the Lord!

Contributed by Denn Guptill from an unknown source.

Text: John 3:16.

 In 1912, 39 year old, Rev. John Harper a Scottish preacher was making a transatlantic trip to preach at the Moody Church in Chicago. As fate would have it the vessel he choice was the Titanic. We all know the story about the disaster but do you know the story of John Harper? Harper like many others ended up in the water, and as people desperately tried to survive in the chilled waters, Harper swam to them.

Titanic/Google creative commons

The minister asked people in the water if they knew Jesus. Eventually, Harper approached a passenger clinging to a jagged piece of wood and he pleaded for the man to trust Christ. The minister was completely exhausted at this point. As he succumbed to the conditions and went under the water to his death, Harper said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved."

A few years later at a meeting of survivors of the Titanic, the final man who encountered John Harper told the group that he had been saved twice that night. First, he had accepted Christ as his personal Savior because of Harper’s efforts. And, of course, he had been rescued from the deep Atlantic seas. He said “Alone in the night with two miles of water under me I believed, I am John Harper's’ last convert.”

William James Roop

Hospice Care and Dying

The Trucking Tango

Author Page

Brother Roop teaches the Bible

Sin Is Like A Bomb

Hello everyone.  Praise the Lord!

Contributed by Tim Richards from an unknown source.

Nuclear bomb/Google creative commons

Text: Ezekiel 18:20

This bomb was tested above the Arctic Circle on October 30, 1961. The explosion was so intense that the flash was visible over 600 miles away. People felt the air move over 160 miles away. Everything in a radius of 15.25 miles was completely destroyed. Very severe damage extended to a distance of 21.5 miles & the heat was so intense that people over 60 miles away would have experienced third degree burns if anyone had been there. 

All this came from a bomb that was a little over 26 feet long & with a diameter of a little over 6 feet. It was large to be sure, but it was tiny when you look at the power it packed. The point was that a small package can deliver an absolutely incredible punch. The same is true of sin, many people view it as, "no big deal," but God sees sin as a monster that brings incredible harm to those who are involved in it.

William James Roop

Hospice Care and Dying

The Trucking Tango

Author Page

Brother Roop teaches the Bible

Loving Your Enemies

Hello everyone.  Praise the Lord!

Text: Matthew 5:44-46.

Abraham Lincoln/Google creative commons

 In his sermon "Loving Your Enemies," Martin Luther King, Jr., said:

When Abraham Lincoln was running for president of the United States, there was a man who ran all around the country talking about Lincoln. He said a lot of unkind things. And sometimes he would get to the point that he would even talk about his looks, saying, "You don’t want a tall, lanky, ignorant man like this as the president of the United States." …

Finally, one day Abraham Lincoln was elected president of the United States.… Then came the time for him to choose a secretary of war. He looked across the nation, and decided to choose a man by the name of Mr. Stanton. And when Abraham Lincoln stood around his advisors and mentioned this fact, they said to him: "Mr. Lincoln, are you a fool? Do you know what Mr. Stanton has been saying about you? Do you know what he as done, tried to do to you? Do you know that he has tried to defeat you on every hand? Do you know that, Mr. Lincoln? Did you read all of those derogatory statements that he made about you?"

Abraham Lincoln stood before the advisors around him and said: "Oh yeah. I know about it; I read about it; I’ve heard him myself. But after looking over the country, I find that he is the best man for the job."

Abraham Lincoln/Google creative commons

Mr. Stanton did become secretary of war; and…later, Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. And if you go to Washington, you will discover that one of the greatest words or statements ever made about Abraham Lincoln was by this man Stanton. As Abraham Lincoln came to the end of his life, Stanton stood up and said: "Now he belongs to the ages." And he made a beautiful statement concerning the character and the stature of this man.

If Abraham Lincoln had hated Stanton, if Abraham Lincoln had answered everything Stanton said, Abraham Lincoln would not have transformed and redeemed Stanton. Stanton would have gone to his grave hating Lincoln, and Lincoln would have gone to his grave hating Stanton. But through the power of love Abraham Lincoln was able to redeem Stanton.

[Martin Luther King, Jr., on Lincoln, Citation: Martin Luther King, Jr., A Knock at Midnight, edited by Clayborne Carson and Peter Holloran (Warner Books, 1998) p.154]

Abraham Lincoln/Google creative commons

William James Roop

Hospice Care and Dying

The Trucking Tango

Author Page

Brother Roop teaches the Bible

I Could Have Been Here 10 Years Ago!

Hello everyone.  Praise the Lord!

Here is a fun joke that I wanted to share with you.

Text: John 3:16.  Contributed by Jim Kilson from an unknown source.

Google creative commons

 An elderly couple passed away and found themselves at the pearly gates. Peter was there to welcome them. First he showed them their mansion. The man overwhelmed by the sheer luxury of it all asked, "How much does this place cost per night?" Peter replied, "Sir, this is Heaven, it doesn’t cost anything." Then Peter took them to the dining room where table upon table was piled high with the most delicious foods you could imagine. Again overwhelmed by the glory of it all the man asked, "How much for the meals?" Peter said, "You forget, this is Heaven, it’s free." 

Peter then took them out back where they saw a fantastically beautiful golf course. As the man stood there open-mouthed Peter said, "Now before you ask, there are no greens fees, this is Heaven, everything is free." The man looked at his wife and said, "You and your confounded bran muffins, I could have been here 10 years ago!"

 Sometimes when people think of heaven they think of it as dull and boring. This joke however captures the promise of eternal life - a place of unbelievable beauty and delight.

William James Roop

Hospice Care and Dying

The Trucking Tango

Author Page

Brother Roop teaches the Bible

Bubba And The Potato Field

 Hello everyone.  Praise the Lord!

Contributed by Greg Buchner from an unknown source.

Text: John 14:6

Potato plant/Google creative commons

 Bubba and the potato field

An old man lived alone in Idaho. He wanted to spade his potato garden, but it was backbreaking work, and his son, Bubba, who used to help him, was in prison.

The old man mentioned it in a letter he sent to his son by saying, “I’m not sure exactly what to do. I’m just getting too old to be digging up a garden plot. It looks like I won’t be able to plant that garden this year after all.”

A few days later, he received a short letter from his son, “Dad, For heaven’s sake, don’t dig up that garden that’s where I buried the bodies!”

At 4 a.m. the next morning, a crew of police officers, and the FBI arrived to find the bodies. After digging for hours, they gave up and apologized to the old man and left.

That same day the old man received another letter from his son.

“Dear Dad, under these circumstances, that’s the best I can do, go ahead and plant your potatoes now.”

Potato/Google Creative Commons

Sometimes we are like the stubborn earth that stands in the way of experiencing a completely transformed life in Jesus Christ. Instead of being willing to trust, to take direction, and to accept the rewards Christ offers. We remain a potential garden…a potential garden in need of resurrection…a potential garden that needs to find the way, the truth, and the life…a potential garden just waiting to accept the victory that’s found in Jesus Christ.

William James Roop

Hospice Care and Dying

The Trucking Tango

Author Page

Brother Roop teaches the Bible

Bridle Your Tongue

 Hello everyone.  Praise the Lord!

Text: James 3:1-18.  

Here is a fun story from an unknown source.

It seems that one day a kindergarten teacher was helping one of her students put on his cowboy boots?

He asked for help and she could see why. Even with her pulling and him pushing, the little boots still didn’t want to go on. Finally, when the second boot was on, she had worked up a sweat. She almost cried when the little boy said, "Teacher, they’re on the wrong feet." She looked down and sure enough, they were.

It wasn’t any easier pulling the boots off than it was putting them on. But she managed to keep her cool as together they worked to get the boots back on - this time on the right feet. And it was only then that he announced, "These aren’t my boots."

She bit her tongue rather than scream, "Why didn’t you say so?" like she wanted to. And, once again she struggled to help him pull the ill-fitting boots off his little feet. No sooner had they got the boots off then he said, "They’re my brother’s boots. My Mom made me wear ’em today."

Stifling a scream, she mustered up the grace and courage she had left to wrestle the ill-fitting boots on his feet again. Helping him into his coat, she asked, "Now, where are your mittens?"

To which he replied, "I stuffed ’em in the toes of my boots."

William James Roop

Hospice Care and Dying

The Trucking Tango

Author Page

Brother Roop teaches the Bible