Any Old Stick Will Do
Steve Wagers
Exodus 4:1-5
INTRODUCTION
1. Charles Killian, professor at Asbury Theological Seminary spent years and years wrestling to understand God's unconditional love.
2. Many nights, when he was young, he cried himself to bed, apologizing for failing to measure up to God's standards. He was raised in a godly, but strict home, attended church twice on Sunday, and once during the week, and often went forward when the altar call was given.
3. One day, however, he heard an evangelist preach a powerful message that we were the ones who nailed Christ to the cross. That image stuck in his mind, and that evening, he cried himself to sleep, apologizing to God for killing His Son.
4. As a result, for the next thirty years, he labored under perfectionism, practiced spiritual disciplines rigorously, and served God faithfully as a seminary professor.
5. One time during a difficult period in his life, he struggled with the fact of why God wanted to use him. Not only did he feel undeserving of the love of God, but unworthy of service to God.
6. Finally, he came home one day and found that his wife had tried to help him see the meaning of grace. She had tied some yellow ribbons that were usually tied around the tree, to the family coat rack.
7. When Dr. Killian walked through the front door he saw the coat rack standing in the middle of the hallway with a note attached to the tree, which moved him, "So what if it's not a real oak tree. Any old tree will do. I love you!" (1)
8. Someone has well said, "Everybody can be great because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve, you don't have to make your subject and verb to agree, you don't have to know about Plato and Aristotle to serve."
9. "You don't have to know Einstein's 'Theory of Relativity' to serve, you don't have to know the Second Theory of Thermodynamics and Physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace, and a soul gener ...
Steve Wagers
Exodus 4:1-5
INTRODUCTION
1. Charles Killian, professor at Asbury Theological Seminary spent years and years wrestling to understand God's unconditional love.
2. Many nights, when he was young, he cried himself to bed, apologizing for failing to measure up to God's standards. He was raised in a godly, but strict home, attended church twice on Sunday, and once during the week, and often went forward when the altar call was given.
3. One day, however, he heard an evangelist preach a powerful message that we were the ones who nailed Christ to the cross. That image stuck in his mind, and that evening, he cried himself to sleep, apologizing to God for killing His Son.
4. As a result, for the next thirty years, he labored under perfectionism, practiced spiritual disciplines rigorously, and served God faithfully as a seminary professor.
5. One time during a difficult period in his life, he struggled with the fact of why God wanted to use him. Not only did he feel undeserving of the love of God, but unworthy of service to God.
6. Finally, he came home one day and found that his wife had tried to help him see the meaning of grace. She had tied some yellow ribbons that were usually tied around the tree, to the family coat rack.
7. When Dr. Killian walked through the front door he saw the coat rack standing in the middle of the hallway with a note attached to the tree, which moved him, "So what if it's not a real oak tree. Any old tree will do. I love you!" (1)
8. Someone has well said, "Everybody can be great because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve, you don't have to make your subject and verb to agree, you don't have to know about Plato and Aristotle to serve."
9. "You don't have to know Einstein's 'Theory of Relativity' to serve, you don't have to know the Second Theory of Thermodynamics and Physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace, and a soul gener ...
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