Readings – Christian Oldies https://www.christianoldies.com Contemporary Christian Oldies Thu, 04 Apr 2019 22:23:21 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9 https://www.christianoldies.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/cropped-32ChristianOldies-Back-2-1024x844-2-32x32.png Readings – Christian Oldies https://www.christianoldies.com 32 32 Contemporary Christian Oldies Readings – Christian Oldies false Readings – Christian Oldies Copyright Call To Worship. All Rights Reserved. Copyright Call To Worship. All Rights Reserved. podcast Contemporary Christian Oldies Readings – Christian Oldies https://www.christianoldies.com/wp-content/plugins/powerpress/rss_default.jpg https://www.christianoldies.com/category/readings/ TV-G Medford, OR Medford, OR Weekly How To Be Saved https://www.christianoldies.com/2019/04/04/how-to-be-saved/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=how-to-be-saved https://www.christianoldies.com/2019/04/04/how-to-be-saved/#respond Thu, 04 Apr 2019 22:20:40 +0000 https://calltoworship.us/?p=3412

 

We believe that salvation is the gift of God, by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, whose blood was shed for the forgiveness of our sins; that this salvation is the possession of those who by faith accept Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. We believe that there is no other way of salvation.
John 3:16; 16:7-11; Romans 10:13; Ephesians 2:5

A Simple path to follow is the “Romans Road”. The book of Romans includes what is commonly referred to as the ‘Romans Road’ to Salvation. In chapter 3 we are reminded that all of us are sinners by nature and by choice. In chapter 6 we can receive eternal life as a free gift. And Romans 5 we see that God demonstrated His love for us while we were His enemies. Later the author of Romans makes it clear that we must trust and surrender to Jesus as Lord. And when we do we have the assurance of Salvation through Jesus. I invite you to call upon Him today.

God knows your heart. Just as the ‘thief on the cross’ recognized he was a sinner and that Jesus is God and the result was that Christ accepted him, the same is offered to you. Today, right now is the time when you should accept God’s gift. Tomorrow is not a given, but the offer of salvation is.

]]> https://www.christianoldies.com/2019/04/04/how-to-be-saved/feed/ 0 The Chosen Vessel https://www.christianoldies.com/2014/07/13/the-chosen-vessel/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-chosen-vessel Sun, 13 Jul 2014 08:01:56 +0000 http://165.227.21.156/?p=638 The Master was searching for a vessel to use.
Before Him were many, Which one would He choose?
“Take me,” cried the gold one, “I’m shiny and bright.
I am of great value and I do things just right.
My beauty and luster will outshine the rest,
And for someone like you, Master, gold would be best.”
The Master passed on with no word at all,
And looked at a silver urn, narrow and tall.
“I’ll serve you dear Master, I’ll pour out your wine.
I’ll be on your table, whenever you dine.
My lines are so graceful, my carvings so true,
And my silver will certainly compliment you.”
Unheeding, the Master passed on to the vessel of brass,
Wide-mouthed and shallow and polished like glass.
“Here, here,” cried the vessel, “I know I will do.
Place me on your table for all men to view.”
The Master came next to the vessel of wood,
Polished and carved, it solidly stood.
“You may use me, dear Master,” the wooden bowl said,
But I’d rather you used be for fruit, not for bread.”
Then the Master looked down on a vessel of clay,
Empty and broken it helplessly lay.
No hope had the vessel that the Master might choose
to cleanse and make whole, to fill and to use.
“Oh, this is the vessel I’ve been hoping to find.
I’ll mend it and use it and make it all mine.
I need not the vessel with the pride of itself,
Nor one that is narrow, to sit on the shelf.
Nor one that is big-mouthed and shallow and loud,
Nor one that displays its contents so proud.”
Then gently He lifted the vessel of clay,
Mended and cleansed and filled it that day.
He spoke to it kindly,
“There’s work you must do.
Just pour out to others what I pour into you.”
Authored by Beulah V. Cornwall – 1967 and printed in the book by Derric Johnson: “Lists – The Book, Vol.II”

]]> The Ragman https://www.christianoldies.com/2014/04/20/the-ragman/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-ragman Sun, 20 Apr 2014 08:01:12 +0000 http://165.227.21.156/?p=534 Before dawn one Friday morning I noticed a young man, handsome and strong, walking the alleys of our city. He was pulling an old cart filled with clothes both bright and new, and he was calling out in a loud clear voice: “Rags! New rags for old! I take your tired rags! Rags!”
“Now, this is a wonder, “I thought to myself, for the man stood six-foot-four, and his arms were like tree limbs, hard and muscular, and his eyes flashed with intelligence. Could he find no better job than this, to be a ragman in the inner city?
So I followed him. My curiosity drove me and I wasn’t disappointed.
Soon the Ragman saw a woman sitting on her back porch. She was sobbing into a handkerchief, seeming to shed a thousand tears. Her shoulders shook. Her heart was breaking. The Ragman stopped his cart. Quietly, he walked up to the woman, stepping around tin cans, dead toys, and Pampers. “Give me your rag,” he said so gently, “and I’ll give you another.”
He slipped the handkerchief from her eyes, and he laid across her palm a linen cloth so clean and new that it shined. She looked from the gift to the giver. Then, as he left and began to pull his cart again, the Ragman did a strange thing: he put her stained handkerchief to his own face: and then he began to weep, and to sob as intensely as she had done, his shoulders shaking. Yet she was now without a tear.
“This is a wonder,” I breathed to myself, and I followed the sobbing Ragman like a child who cannot turn away from a mystery.
“Rags! Rags! New rags for old!”
In a little while, when the sky showed grey behind the rooftops and I could see shredded curtains hanging out black windows, the Ragman came upon a girl whose eyes were empty and whose head was wrapped in a bandage. Blood soaked her bandage and a single line of red ran down her cheek.
Now as the tall Ragman looked upon this child with pity in his eyes, he drew a lovely yellow bonnet from his cart. “Give me your rag,” he said, “and I’ll give you mine.” The child could only gaze at him while he loosened the bandage, removed it, and then tied it to his own head. The yellow bonnet he then set on hers. And I gasped at what I saw: for with the bandage went the wound! Against his brow it ran darker, more substantial blood – – his own!
“Rags! Rags! I take old rags,” cried the now sobbing, bleeding, strong, intelligent Ragman. The Ragman now seemed more and more in a hurry.
The Ragman then came upon a man leaning against a telephone pole. “Are you going to work?” he asked the man. The man just shook his head. The Ragman pressed him; “Do you have a job?” “Are you crazy?” sneered the man. He then pulled away from the pole, revealing the right sleeve of his jacket–flat, the cuff stuffed into the pocket. He had no arm.
“So”, said the Ragman. “Give me your jacket, and I’ll give you mine.” Such quiet authority in his voice!
The one-armed man took off his jacket. So did the Ragman–and I trembled at what I saw; for the Ragman’s arm stayed in it’s sleeve, and when the man put on the Ragman’s jacket he now had two good arms, thick as tree limbs; but now the Ragman had only one.
“Now go to work,” he said.
After that the Ragman found a drunk. An old man, hunched, and sick lying unconscious beneath an army blanket. The Ragman took that blanket and wrapped it round himself, but for the drunk he left new clean clothes.
And now I found that I had to run to keep up with the Ragman. Though he was weeping uncontrollably, and bleeding freely at the forehead, pulling his cart with one arm, stumbling from drunkenness, falling again and again, exhausted, old, and sick, yet he went with terrible speed. On spider’s legs he skittered through the alleys of the city, this mile and the next, until he came to the edge of the city, and then he rushed beyond.
I wept to see the change in this man. I hurt so to see his sorrow. And yet I needed to see where he was going in such haste, perhaps to know what drove him so.
The now little old Ragman came to a landfill and a dumping ground. I wanted to help him in what he did, but I hung back, hiding.
He climbed a hill and with tormented labor he cleared a little space on that hill. Then he sighed and lay down. He pillowed his head on a handkerchief and a jacket. He covered his bones with an old army blanket — and then…he died!
Oh, how I cried as I witnessed that death! I slumped in a junked car and wailed and mourned as one who has no hope–because I had come to love the Ragman. Every other face had faded in the wonder of this man, and I cherished him; but he had died and it was over. I sobbed myself to sleep.
I did not know –how could I know? — that I slept through Friday night and all day Saturday and its night, too. But then, on Sunday morning, I was awakened by an intense bright light. The Light –pure, hard, demanding light — slammed against my face, and I blinked, but I looked, and I saw the last and the first wonder of all.
There was the Ragman, folding the blanket most carefully, a scar on his forehead, but he was now alive! And, besides that, healthy! There was no sign of sorrow or of age, and all the rags that he had gathered now shined as the sun.
Well, I then lowered my head and, trembling for all that I had seen, I walked up to the Ragman. I told him my name with shame, for I was a sorry figure next to him. Then as I looked at the condition of my own clothes, I said to him with deep yearning in my voice: “Dress me, Please!” He dressed me.
My Lord took my filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6) and put new, clean, shinning clothes on me, and I am a wonder beside him.
The Ragman, The Ragman, The Christ!
Adapted from the book, “The Ragman and Other Stories” by Walter Weingren

]]> If Jesus Came To Your House https://www.christianoldies.com/2013/10/06/if-jesus-came-to-your-house/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=if-jesus-came-to-your-house Sun, 06 Oct 2013 08:02:32 +0000 http://165.227.21.156/?p=277 If Jesus came to your house to spend a day or two,
If He came unexpectedly, I wonder what you’d do.
Oh, I know that you would give your nicest room to such an honored guest,
And all the food you would serve to Him would be the very best.
And you would keep assuring Him you’re glad to have Him there,
That serving Him in your own home is joy beyond compare.
But–when you saw Him coming, would you meet him at the door
With arms outstretched in welcome to your heavenly visitor?
Or would you have to change your clothes before you let Him in,
And hide some magazines, and put the bible where they had been?
Would you turn off the radio and hope He hadn’t heard,
And wish you hadn’t uttered that last, loud, hasty word?
Would you hide your worldly music and put some hymn books out?
Could you let Jesus walk right in, or would you rush about?
And I wonder, if the Savior spent a day or two with you,
Would you go right on doing the things you always do?
Would you go right on saying the things you always say?
Would life for you continue as it does from day to day?
Would your family conversation keep up its usual pace,
Or would you find it hard each meal to say a table grace?
Would you sing the songs you always sing and read the books you read,
And let him know the things on which your mind and spirit feed?
Would you take Jesus everywhere you’d planned to go,
Or would you, maybe, change your plans for just a day or so?
Would you be glad to have Him meet your very closest friends,
Or would you hope they’d stay away until His visit ends?
Would you be glad to have Him stay forever, on and on,
Or would you sigh with great relief when He at last was gone?
It might be interesting to know the things that you would do
If Jesus Christ, in person, came to spend some time with you.
Lois Kendall Blanchard – Author

]]> You Can Trust Him! https://www.christianoldies.com/2013/06/01/you-can-trust-him/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=you-can-trust-him Sat, 01 Jun 2013 17:00:24 +0000 http://198.199.113.45/?p=31

My Friend you can trust God today.
He is good and He is good all the time
But as you focus on His goodness
Don’t miss His greatness…
He is unparalleled and unprecedented
He is the centerpiece of civilization
He is the superlative of all excellence
He is the sum of human greatness
He is the source of divine grace
His name is the only one able to save
And His blood in the only power able to cleanse
His ear is open to the sinner’s call
His hand is quick to lift the fallen soul
He’s the eternal lover of us all…every one
AND YOU CAN TRUST HIM.
He supplies mercy for the struggling soul
He sustains the tempted and the tried
He sympathizes with the wounded and the broken
He strengthens the weak and the weary
He guards and He guides the wanderer
He heals the sick and cleanses the leper
He delivers the captive and defends the helpless
And He binds up the broken-hearted
He’s for you
AND YOU CAN TRUST HIM
Jesus is the key to all knowledge
He’s the wellspring of wisdom
He’s the doorway of deliverance
And He’s the pathway of peace
He’s the roadway of righteousness
He’s the highway of holiness
He’s the gateway to glory
AND YES YOU CAN TRUST HIM
Jesus IS enough
He’s the all sufficient King
He’s the King of the Jews
He’s the King of Israel
He’s the King of righteousness
And He’s the King of the ages
He’s the King of Heaven
He’s the King of Glory
He’s the King of Kings and
He’s the Lord of Lords
AND YES AGAIN YOU CAN TRUST HIM
And rejoice in this my friend
He is a sovereign King
There is no gauge to measure His limitless love
There is no barrier to block His blessings out-poured
He is enduringly strong
And He is entirely supreme
He is eternally steadfast
He is immortally faithful
He is imperially powerful and
He is impartially merciful
He is Jesus, God’s Son
AND YOU CAN TRUST HIM
I wish I could more accurately describe Him to you
But He’s indescribable
He’s incomprehensible
He’s invincible
He’s irresistible
You can’t outlive Him
And you can’t live without Him
The Pharisees couldn’t stand Him
But they found they couldn’t stop Him
Pilate couldn’t fault Him
Herod couldn’t kill Him
Death couldn’t conquer Him
And the grave couldn’t hold Him
My friends
He’s the Alpha and Omega
The first and the last
He’s the God of the future
And the God of the past
And we rise to speak His name again and again
Jesus!
JESUS!!
HE IS JESUS!!!
And He is for us…
AND WE CAN TRUST HIM!!
Taken from “A Worship Experience -GOD FOR US with Don Moen”

]]> Can I Say the Lord's Prayer? https://www.christianoldies.com/2013/01/01/can-i-say-the-lords-prayer/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=can-i-say-the-lords-prayer Tue, 01 Jan 2013 17:04:51 +0000 http://198.199.113.45/?p=38 Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come.  Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread.  And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.  – Matt 6:9-13 (KJV)
I cannot say OUR if I live in a logic-tight spiritual compartment thinking that only people who agree with me are going to heaven.
I cannot say FATHER if I do not demonstrate that relationship in my own daily life.
I cannot say WHICH ART IN HEAVEN if I am not laying up treasure there.
I cannot say HALLOWED BE THY NAME if I, who am called by His name, am not holy.
I cannot say THY WILL BE DONE if I am questioning, resentful, or disobedient of His will for me.
I cannot say ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN if I am not prepared to devote my life here to His service.
I cannot say GIVE US OUR DAILY BREAD if I am living on past experiences, or looking elsewhere for satisfaction and motivation.
I cannot say FORGIVE US OUR TRESPASSES AS WE FORGIVE THOSE THAT TRESPASS AGAINST US if I harbor a grudge against anyone.
I cannot say LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION if I deliberately place myself or remain in a position where I am likely to be tempted.
I cannot say DELIVER US FROM EVIL if I am not prepared to fight it in the spiritual realm with the weapon of prayer.
I cannot say THINE IS THE KINGDOM if I do not accord the King of my life the disciplined obedience of a loyal subject.
I cannot say THINE IS THE POWER if I fear what men may do or what my neighbors may think.
I cannot say THINE IS THE GLORY if I am seeking glory for myself.
I cannot say FOR EVER AND EVER if my horizon is bounded by the things of time.
I cannot say AMEN if I do not also add the phrase, “Cost what it may”, because to say this prayer honestly will cost me everything I have.
 
From the “Lists – the Book Vol. II” by Derric Johnson. Published by Y.E.S.S Press.
 
 

]]> Because God Loves Me https://www.christianoldies.com/2013/01/01/because-god-loves-me/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=because-god-loves-me Tue, 01 Jan 2013 17:02:15 +0000 http://198.199.113.45/?p=36 Because God Loves me – He is slow to lose patience with me
Because God Loves me – He takes the circumstances of my life and uses them in a constructive way for my growth
Because God Loves me – He does not treat me as an object to be possessed and manipulated
Because God Loves me – He has no need to impress me with how great and powerful He is because He is God nor does He belittle me as His child in order to show me how important He is
Because God Loves me – He is for me. He wants to see me mature and develop in His love
Because God Loves me – He does not send down His wrath on ever little mistake I make, of which there are many
Because God Loves me – He does not keep score of all my sins and then beat me over the head with them whenever He gets the chance
Because God Loves me – He is deeply grieved when I do not walk in the ways that please Him because He sees this as evidence that I don’t trust Him and Love Him as I should
Because God Loves me – He rejoices when I experience His power and strength and stand up under the pressures of life for His name’s sake
Because God Loves me – He keeps on working patiently with me even when I feel like giving up and can’t see why He doesn’t give up on me too
Because God Loves me – He keeps on trusting me when at times I don’t even trust myself
Because God Loves me – He never says there is no hope for me, rather He patiently works with me, loves me and disciplines me in such a way that it is hard for me to understand the depth of His concern for me
Because God Loves me – He never forsakes me even though many of my friends might
Because God Loves me – He stands with me when I have reached the rock bottom of despair, when I see the real me and compare that with His righteousness, holiness, beauty, and love
It is at a moment like this that I can really believe that God Loves Me!
Written by Dick Dickson

]]> The Missing Jewel of the Church https://www.christianoldies.com/2013/01/01/the-missing-jewel-of-the-church/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-missing-jewel-of-the-church Tue, 01 Jan 2013 17:01:03 +0000 http://198.199.113.45/?p=33 THE MISSING JEWEL OF THE CHURCH 
By Charles Swindoll
Today I want to share a devotional by Charles Swindoll on “The Missing Jewel of the Church” taken from his INSIGHTS newsletter from August of 2003.
Worship . . . let’s think about worship. When was the last time you decided to stop playing “church” and start really worshiping? If the truth were known, many believers don’t have a clue what worship is.
We wonder—
Does worship mean I have to hold my hands up when I sing and pray, like some Christians do?
Does worship mean I need to close my eyes and envision something heavenly, lest I become distracted by something earthly?
Does worship mean I have feelings that are a little bit ecstatic, maybe bordering on the supernatural?
What exactly is worship? And is it all that rare?
In 1961, while he was speaking to the pastors of the Associated Gospel Churches of Canada, the late A. W. Tozer said that worship “is the missing jewel in modern evangelicalism.” I think he was a prophet ahead of his time.
Let me ask you: Do you worship where you go to church? “Yes,” you say, “I just love the Bible teaching at our church.” That’s not my question. “Oh, yes, the singing is wonderful.” That’s not my question either. I know you love the Bible. And you probably love to sing. I’m not asking about those things. I’m asking, Do you worship?
My great concern is that we tend to play the game of “church.” We learn how to dress, learn how to sit, and learn how to look. We even learn the words of the songs. But what about our focus as we sing them? While we sing, “A Mighty Fortress is our God,” Are we thinking, Why did she wear a dress like that? “A Bulwark Never Failing.” Did I turn the lights off on my car? We can do that and not even change our expression. That’s not worship—that’s playing the church game. When I am truly lost in wonder, love, and praise, I have to tell you, there are times I don’t even know my name.
I have been in meetings where the worship has been so, for lack of a better word, thick, so thick with His presence, that I lack the means to care for anything or anyone else, including myself. I’m completely lost in the praise of my God.
This is not related to whether you go to a charismatic or non-charismatic church. I don’t care if it is denominational or non-denominational. I don’t care if it’s urban or rural, large or small. You can have contemporary music or sing the most traditional hymns and still miss the wonder of worship. Worship is not linked to a denomination or dependent upon a certain style. It’s so much more than any of that!
What, then, is worship? Dr. Ron Allen, a professor at Dallas Theological Seminary, digs deep when he wrote, “Worship is an active response to God whereby we declare His worth. Worship is not passive; but is participative. Worship is not simply a mood; it is a response. Worship is not just a feeling; it is a declaration. . . .
The English word worship is wonderfully expressive of the act that it describes. Worship means ‘to attribute worth’ to something or someone.”
Dr. Allen continues by explaining that we use the word too loosely when we say, “he worships his car” or “she worships her children.” Unless his car has supreme worth in his life or her children are of the highest value for her, then we’re not using the term accurately.
That’s the missing jewel—worshiping God by ascribing to Him supreme worth, for He alone is worthy. Notice I did not say, “Worship Him by singing . . . worship Him by teaching.” We ascribe to Him worth in our teaching, in our singing, and in our prayers. He alone is awesome. That’s another word we’ve cheapened by attaching it to objects made by human hands. A car is not awesome. No movie is awesome. God alone is awesome.
In Psalm 99: verses 2 & 3 it says: “Great is the Lord in Zion; He is exalted over all the nations. Let them praise your great and awesome name”.
Our God brings out the wonder in me, which prompts me to search for ways to express His worth. Unfortunately most of us praise the preacher more than we praise our God. God alone is the subject of our praise and the object of our worship. We’ve lost that. We miss it when our horizontal focus becomes riveted on people and things, rather than on the vertical—on God. No wonder we are becoming a people full of worry rather than worship.
Author Gordon Dahl says, “Most middle class Americans tend to WORSHIP their work; WORK at their play; and PLAY at their worship” It has become too common for Americans to surrender all for their work . . . but to sacrifice nothing in worshiping the One who gave His life to save ours. Stop and think. Is that you?
What a strange generation! People who play at worship. It must grieve the heart of our God. You’re hearing that from a man who loves to play and loves to laugh. But I think there are times when playing and laughing need to be set aside and we, in worship, focus fully on Him. Such times enable us to rediscover the “missing jewel.” Of the church and that is to Worship our Lord in true reverence.
Heavenly Father, Thank you for being such a Great and Awesome God. And for forgiving us for those times when our worship is less than it should be. Help us to concentrate on you and to ascribe to you your supreme worth. For you alone are worthy Father, Thanks you for the opportunity you give us – through the Holy Spirit – to come into your presence and truly worship you today.
A. W. Tozer in The Best of A. W. Tozer, as quoted in Making New Discoveries (Anaheim, Calif.: Insight for Living, 1996), 29.
Ron Allen and Gordon Borror, Worship: Rediscovering the Missing Jewel, as quoted in Making New Discoveries (Anaheim, Calif.: Insight for Living, 1996), 30.
Adapted from Charles R. Swindoll, Insights (August 2003), 1-2. Copyright © 2003 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide.

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