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Apples of Gold
Radio Script for December 18, 2009
“What If Someone Has No Interest In Jesus?”
Hello, I’m
It was back in the days of Flower Power and “peace, man” and VW vans.
And as a singer, Annie was right in the thick of it.
She lived in
She was dating a guy named Buck, and guess what?
Buck got saved. He came to Christ and tried to share the good news with Annie.
But she didn’t want to have anything to do with it. She was raised Catholic, had tried Jesus and decided there was nothing to it. So she told Buck, “See ya later babe.”
“I didn’t want to have anything to do with Christianity whatsoever,” she said.
“And then I saw him two weeks later. He came and knocked on my door, and his countenance was absolutely different, and I bolted back. I said, ‘What has happened to you? Whatever has happened to you, that’s what I’m looking for.’”
And Buck told her that it was the Holy Spirit, that he had received the Holy Spirit.
“It changed him,” Annie said, “and what it did for me was, I saw it. And the thing inside of me that was longing for the truth – there it was, on his face.”
She ended up at a meeting and they tried to lead her to Christ. “Do you believe in Jesus? Do you believe He died for your sins and rose again?” “Yes,” Annie quickly replied to all their questions. “Let’s get on with the program. I want this Holy Spirit thing.”
Now some of you might be thinking, “Wait a minute. That’s too much emphasis on the Holy Spirit. We need to emphasize Jesus and His redemptive work. She should be focused on receiving Christ.
Well if you want to downplay receiving the Holy Spirit, then you need dig into the Word. Get out your concordance and look up the word “receive.” What you will find is that, of all the things we can receive, the thing you will find most in the New Testament is receiving the Holy Spirit. Yes, it talks about receiving the Gospel and forgiveness. It talks about receiving Jesus and mercy, and many other things. But the thing it talks about more than all of them is receiving the Holy Spirit.
Galatians 3:14 points out that God redeemed us so that we could receive the Holy Spirit.
As Peter preached in Acts 2:38 he said, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.”
And was that the end result? No. Here was the end result. “And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
Over and over and over again we read about receiving the Holy Spirit and the work the Spirit does in our lives.
Well Annie saw what the Spirit had done in her old boyfriend’s life, and she wanted it. Now don’t distort what I’m about to say, but she was ready to skip over all the Jesus stuff to get to the Holy Spirit. She was hungry for the Spirit of God.
So they gathered around her and started praying for her, and what happened? Did God wait until she got her theology all straight, until she gave Jesus a little more respect?
Well listen to what happened as they prayed.
“I was ushered into the heavenlies,” she said. “I didn’t know anything of the Word yet, but I saw this throne, and there were these elders. And incense, I could smell the incense. And there were millions of people, and it was wonderful. And then I saw Jesus, and I wanted to express my love for Him, so I reached out to Him. And I felt every sin I’d ever committed in my whole life fall upon me. And I thought to myself, ‘There is no way that Jesus could possibly love me. It’s impossible. How could this spotless, most beautiful thing in the world possibly love me?’ And so I just got up out of that chair, ran out of that room and said, ‘Forget it. It’s impossible.’”
“And I went out into the night,” Annie said, “out into the field and cried and cried because I knew I was lost and I knew I had no hope. But somehow or other, by the time morning came, my thought was, ‘How could He love me so much, that He would take on all of those sins? And then I knew the Redeemer, and the power of the blood, because I had given my life to Jesus and He absolutely took every sin and changed me.”
And that’s Annie’s testimony, and now for three decades she has been singing for the Lord. And by the way, she went on to marry that ex-boyfriend, Buck Herring.
But the thing I like about her story is how it seems kind of backwards. Because of her background, she was not interested in Jesus. But then she saw the literal changes in Buck’s life, which he attributed to the Holy Spirit – and that caught her interest. “I want the Holy Spirit,” she said.
So she prayed to receive the Holy Spirit, and what happened? She had an encounter with Jesus! And He dealt with her sins and she received forgiveness and salvation.
God loves us so much, and I’m always amazed by the different ways He reaches out to people right where they are.
So if you know someone who has some negative preconceived notions of Jesus or Christianity, then maybe you can encourage them to receive the Holy Spirit.
That may not fit your idea of evangelism, but let me leave you with this teaching from Jesus in Luke 11. “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”
Comments?
E-mail me: dougapple@wave94.com.
May God bless you today! With Apples of Gold…I’m
I think this is a great example of drawing near to God, and He will draw near to us. We don’t necessarily have to have all of our theological ducks in a row. If he seriously draw near to Him, if we seriously seek Him, we will find Him.
Annie Herring’s interview was aired on Wave 94 on Jerry Bryant’s program
***You can listen to Annie in her own voice describe her conversion at the end of today’s audio version by clicking the link at the top. It’s an excerpt from the interview as aired on
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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.
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