Friday, June 27, 2008

When the Changes Don't Come Fast Enough - Apples of Gold - June 27, 2008 -vi-

Apples of Gold
 

Radio Script for June 27, 2008

“When the Changes Don’t Come Fast Enough”


Hello, I’m Doug Apple…with Apples of Gold.

She had a big fight with her boyfriend.

A huge fight.

A “you’re such a jerk the wedding’s off” fight.

The next day they were both in Orlando on business, so he asked her to meet him for dinner.

“No,” she said.

“Well there’s a big, special church service at the civic center tonight.  Will you at least meet me there after dinner?”

“Okay,” she said, just to be polite.

As they walked through the civic center that night she created a chilly force field around herself.  “Don’t you dare try to hold my hand.  Don’t even touch me.”

The service was nice, some kind of Assemblies of God conference with thousands in attendance.  Eventually the speaker said, “Maybe tonight’s the night you are going to ask Jesus Christ to be your personal Savior.” 

At this, Tracey Cochran bristled.  She had heard altar calls before, and she had always told herself, “I’m not about to walk down in front of a bunch of people.”

Then the speaker said, “Turn to the person beside you and ask, ‘Is this the night you ask Jesus Christ to be your Savior?’”

The woman beside Tracey turned and asked her that question, and as bad as she wanted to say no, she found herself saying yes.

And the next thing she knew she was doing just what she had no intention of doing, walking down in front of a bunch of people to publicly accept Christ.

Tracey had heard a lot of testimonies, so she figured that her life would instantly and radically change.  But when she got home that night, and when she woke up the next day – it really wasn’t that different.

She went back to work and went about her business and, really, no big deal.  She wasn’t doing anything awful at the time anyway, so what big changes could God make?  She was a nice person, a good person before coming to Christ.  Now what?

Then one day she was driving down the highway on a business trip.  She was listening to a Whitney Houston CD, and started to notice the song lyrics.  She saw them in a new light, and thought, “Why, this is drivel.  Why am I listening to this?”

She looked at her music collection and thought, “I need to get some new music.”  So she went to the Christian bookstore and invested in some Christian music.

This may not sound like a big deal, but it was a big deal to her.  It was the first obvious change that she saw God making in her life.  Not something a preacher told her to do.  Not something she read in a book.  Just something that the Holy Spirit within her called her attention to and brought about a change.

Then she noticed something else – a growing desire for her family to come to Christ.  None of them were Christians, and she said that over time she just felt it stirring inside her, a burning desire to share the Gospel with her parents and siblings.  And before long she was able to lead both her mother and her father to Christ.

So Tracey didn’t notice any huge changes when she first became a Christian.  But big changes did come as the Spirit of God moved within her.  And the two big things she noticed was a change of her taste in music, and a desire for her family to be saved.

That story reminds me of Philippians 1:6, “…He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

When we come to Christ, that is just the beginning of His good work within us.  It doesn’t all happen at once in one giant morphing from human to Christlike.  It tends to happen more gradually as Christ carries on His work inside us.

Have you ever seen someone come to Christ, and then you thought of a hundred things they needed to hurry up and change?  They need to stop drinking, smoking, cussing, and fooling around.  They need to stop being lazy and selfish and deceptive.  They need to change their hair and their clothes, and what about those tattoos and piercings?  They need to witness and tithe and help orphans and widows.  But meanwhile, there they are, content to just sit around and play their rated M video games.  Now what?

You may be tempted to dive in and try to turn them into super Christians, made in your own image.  But maybe you need to leave some room for the Holy Spirit.  God is the one who saved them.  He is the one who drew them in the first place.  God is the one who began the good work, and He is the one who will carry it on to completion.

I don’t know what Tracey would have done if someone would have told her to stop listening to Whitney Houston, or told her to immediately go drop a Gospel bomb on her parents.  But I do know this.  When the Holy Spirit stirs up a conviction inside someone, it becomes a true conviction. 

So be encouraged today!  In your own life, and in the life of those Christians around you – sure, maybe the changes don’t seem to be happening fast enough, or big enough – but never forget those great words in Philippians 1:6, “…He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”


Comments?

E-mail me:  dougapple@wave94.com.

May God bless you today!  With Apples of Gold…I’m Doug Apple.

Tracey Cochran and her husband Thom own the Little English Guesthouse Bed and Breakfast in
Tallahassee:
http://www.littleenglishguesthouse.com/

Soon you will be able to hear Tracey’s complete testimony on www.TestifyTallahassee.com as well as on Wave 94.

© 2008 The Arrow’s Tip
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(Proverbs 25:11 – “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.”)

Why “The Arrow’s Tip”?  Each morning, after diligently seeking the Lord, I write Apples of Gold.  Then before I release it to the public I pray one final prayer, “Lord, send forth your arrows.”  I envision Apples of Gold as arrows, tips dipped in the river of the water of life that flows from the throne of God (Rev. 22:1), sailing toward the hearts and minds of men and women around the world.

Doug Apple
General Manager - Wave 94
Christian Radio for
Tallahassee
PO Box 4105
Tallahassee, FL  32315
(850) 926-8000

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