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Candle to Salt A tall white candle is blown out and covered with a clear plastic tube.
The candle can be easily seen through the clear tube. The candle never
leaves anyone's sight during the entire trick. Picks up the candle by the base, and it Visibly
Turns to Salt. All traces of the candle are gone.
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Price: $14.99 |
Has it happened to you? It's late
at night. You're home alone and the power goes out right in the middle of a
really good show. You peer out the window but the street is dark without a
street light shining anywhere up or down the street. What little moon there must
be in the sky is hidden by clouds because there doesn't seem to be any light
coming from the sky either. You stumble toward the closet to find a flashlight.
You stub your toe on a chair. Dancing around holding your toe you stumble on
something, but you don't know what you stumbled on because you're too busy
trying to see your injuries. Even with that experience you still don't really
know what darkness really is. Unless you have
experienced darkness so real you can almost feel it, you don't really understand
what darkness is.
I'm talking a darkness even darker
than the kind you experience camping on a moonless night. The kind of darkness that
keeps you in your tent until you can find a flashlight. The uneven ground and
protruding roots or even trees themselves are dangerous obstacles when it is
really dark. Or the darkness that comes after a hurricane leaves you without
power inside a house with board covered windows. I am talking about the darkness
of sin.
Sin
produced darkness. A darkness that prevents people from seeing things as they really are.
Darkness that makes people think sin is good. A darkness that
blinds people as to what is right and what is wrong. Sin produced a darkness so
thick that only the love of God could penetrate it. That's why God sent His Son into the world. He knew that in
the darkness of sin people would need a light.
Bill Wilson an incredible minister to dark areas of New
York City tells a wonderful story that happened to him one Christmas several
years ago.
It was the day of their big toy give-away. On that Sunday
they give every child that attends a toy. For many children that toy would be the only
toy many children would receive for Christmas. The attendance was always high and the
excitement matched the numbers. Bill Wilson was driving one of the routes. At
one stop a little child held out a tiny package, wrapped crudely in crumpled
paper. ?You give me presents, I want to give you something,? the child
explained. Bill smiled, thanked the child and moved the bus back onto the busy
highway, putting the tiny package on the dash of the bus.
But the child began to clamor, ?No, I want you to open it
now.? The child was so insistent that he felt he had no choice but to find a
place to move to the side of the busy traffic and open the package.
As Pastor Wilson pulled off the highway, all the children
gathered around the front to watch Bill Wilson open his tiny package. It was a
miniature baby Jesus in a manger. The kind that comes with a nativity set,
without all the other pieces. It was obviously something the child had found in
the garbage. It was dirty and the paint was chipped.
Again Pastor Wilson thanked the child and started to put
the gift on the dash. Again she was persistent. She rescued the figure and
cupped the tiny Jesus in her hands to make it dark around the tiny figure. Look,
did you see it? ?Jesus shines in the dark.? Sure as her words the tiny figure
glowed in the darkness of her hands. The figure was made of material that caused
it to glow in the dark.
And Praise God, He does! Jesus shines in the dark.
There is no situation too dark that the light of God?s love will not shine in
it.
That brings us to our responsibility as a Christian.
(Move to the candle and light it.)
Jesus said in Matthew
5:14-16 (KJV) Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill
cannot be hid. {15} Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel,
but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. {16}
Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and
glorify your Father which is in heaven. "This little light of mine, I'm
gonna let is shine" is more than a song. It is our responsibility as a believer. If you are a believer that light
is in you. Don't hide it. Let it shine.
(Blow out the light) What happens if we don't let our light shine. Some
people may never see the light of God's love unless you show them. (Pour out the
salt) We are not only called to be light. We are called to be salt. Salt is a
preservative. Salt makes people thirsty. You know the drill. You eat potato
chips and then you want something to drink.
We are supposed to be salty Christians. By that I mean, our testimony
and the way we live should make people want to know Jesus. But what happens if
we are not salty Christians? Without Jesus people will be lost for all eternity.
That puts a big responsibility on our shoulders. Be a light. Be salty. Share
Jesus with your friends. It's only polite to share good things with your
friends.
Other resources to help you teach children how
to people soul winners.
Make the Bible Come Alive
The Farmer Bliss story as told on the Make the
Bible Come Alive CD or DVD is a great story to use when encouraging children to
share Jesus with their friends. You can order the CD or DVD by clicking
Make the Bible Come Alive CD $4.95
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