Monday, April 18, 2011

I Was 28 and I Owned a Beer Joint - Apples of Gold - April 18, 2011 -vi-

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Apples of Gold
 

Radio Script for April 18, 2011

“I Was 28 and I Owned a Beer Joint”

 

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

“I was 28, and I owned a beer joint.”

That’s what Phil Robertson told me last week.

Phil is in his 60’s now, and is best known as The Duck Commander on the hit TV show on the Outdoor Channel. 

Growing up in Louisiana, Phil was always an outdoors enthusiast, but something changed his life when he was 28 and running that beer joint.

“Some guy came up there,” Phil said, “and wanted to share some things with me out of the Bible.”

Now can you imagine tracking down the owner of your local bar and trying to tell him about Jesus and his eternal destiny?  How do you think that would go?

Well that’s about how it went for the guy who talked to Phil Robertson. 

“I pretty well ran him off,” Phil said.

I’m sure that wasn’t that guy’s best day.  I don’t know why he went to talk to Phil, but maybe he felt God prompting him.  Maybe he felt a certain burden for Phil Robertson, so he worked up the courage, went to the beer joint and shared Jesus with him. 

Can you see him licking his wounds afterward?  “God, why did You send me there?  What a waste of time.  It was embarrassing!”

Now listen to this.  When you share Jesus with someone and it doesn’t go well, that’s usually not the end of it.  You have planted some powerful seeds in that person’s heart and mind.

That was the case for Phil Robertson.  After he ran the guy off, he got to thinking, “You know, if he had enough gall to come to some beer joint, I might want to look that cat up because, my life was pretty well in shambles, I’ll tell you that.”

Long story short, Phil came to Christ and now says, “Trust me, the second half of my life has been a lot better than the first half.”

And now Phil shares his faith all over the place, including at a huge gathering of outdoorsmen in the Super Dome. 

And it all goes back to that guy who was willing to do the uncomfortable thing of sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ with the owner of a bar.

In Luke 16, Jesus shared an interesting story about a rich man and a beggar named Lazarus.  They both died.  The beggar was carried by angels to Abraham’s bosom, and the rich man was tormented in Hades.  The rich man cried out, “Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.”

Abraham told him it couldn’t be done.  Then the rich man said, “I beg you…send him to my father’s house, for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment.”

Again Abraham said it couldn’t be done, but here is where we need to stop and think for a minute.

The rich man was pleading with Abraham to send Lazarus to warn his brothers, to spare them from also coming to the place of torment.

“Send Lazarus to my brothers,” he was begging.

Lazarus couldn’t go, but guess what?  We can. 

Perhaps dead loved ones are crying out from Hades right now, “Send someone to my brothers and sisters, that they may be spared this torment.”

Years ago, one man answered that call, walked in a beer joint and shared Jesus with Phil Robertson. 

There was probably a time in your life when someone risked rejection, went out of their way and shared Jesus with you.

And now it’s time for us to share Jesus with others.

And you know what?  This is a great week to do it.

Good Friday and Easter Sunday are on the way, a perfect time to talk about Jesus’ death and resurrection and what it all means.

And if you aren’t sure what to say, just invite them to church.  Lots of people are willing to go to church on Easter weekend.

So be motivated by these two stories today:  the rich man begging for someone to warn his brothers, and the man who went out of his way to share Jesus with Phil Robertson.


Comments?

E-mail me:  dougapple@wave94.com.

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


© 2011 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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