T.J.I.F.A.
Thank Jesus It's Friday...Again!


PASS IT ON...
January 25, 2002
Subject:PRESSING

"Jesus replied,"No one who puts his hand  to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the Kingdom of God."   Luke 9:62 NIV
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This week, I'm borrowing the title word, Pressing, from last week's text.  "...I press toward the mark..."Phil 3:13.  

When Jesus was alone in the Garden of Gethsemene He cried out to God, His Father, and prayed until his sweat was as great drops of blood.. (Luke 22:44)  Jesus who had already surrendered His life to the will of God, now pressed, through tears, prayer and exceeding sorrow.  As He concluded in prayer He said "Never-the-less, not as I will, but as thine wilt."  (Mat 26:39) Have you ever prayed and pressed into God unto blood?

In the Garden Jesus gave us a great revelation, an explosive truth  through the ages.  "The Spirit indeed is willing but the flesh is weak." (Mat 26:41) Going from tribunal to tribunal Jesus pressed His way to the Cross, where every sin was crucified.  He dragged a cross of abuse, torture and shame openly through the streets... all could observe Him being spit on, kicked, battered, bruised and all could make a decision.  Words of persecution and hate filled the air from the crowd, he had no friends according to the scripture even God had forsaken Him. (Mat 27:46)   He looked up and saw  women weeping and while he was pressing he commanded,  "Weep not for me but for yourselves and you children."(Luke 23:28) (My heart's interpretation tells me that Jesus knew  His condition was temporary and necessary.  The sin that others werer observing was not His own but that of the onlookers.  Thus He instructed them to cry out for themselves and for their children.  For the sin they were experiencing.)  As we find ourselves in a pressing position many times your friends diminish or fade back into the scenery, because they have no understanding of the nature of the pressure on your life.  It is difficult  to go through strange waters alone, but Jesus has promised us that He will never leave us nor forsake us.

At any pooint from the Garden to the Cross Jesus Christ, Son of God could have cried out to His Father, I'm hurting too much .  I can't do it.  It's too hard for me.  The Angels of God stood round about Him, waiting for His any word that would set them into motion against those sin filled people.  A large Angel stood with his ear extremely close to the mouth of Jesus leaning on his sword, with the ability to command the ten thousand times ten thousands waiting in the heavens.  BUT...Jesus pressing on even unto death asked His Father..."Father forgive them for they know not what they do."  Then He said that there would be no mistake "It is finished" and He gave up the Ghost,  hung His head and died.  

Jesus Christ pressed even in His last words.  He put His hand on the plow and never looked back, but kept going so that you and I could call on His name as we press toward the mark.  
God Bless
TER
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Noteworthy:
• A lump of coal is only good for burning...but after extreme pressure it becomes a valued gen called ‘A Diamond.'
• The ‘Wine Press' puts pressure on grapes and that pressure yields fine wine.
• As we press ourselves to do better in every task that we undertake, we will find that the pressing will bring about a change for the better.  Pressure is a forgotten force that brings about change.
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I fell in love with this story the first time that I ever heard it about twelve years ago, read by my husband in a Sunday Morning message.  I don't know who the author is and I wouldn't try to claim this work.  I have scanned it into the Newsletter so please forgive any nuances.  We call this story "The Tea Cup"

The Mirror:
You Are What I Had In Mind!
In the past few days. ..from a very dear friend ...I have heard one of the most moving descriptions of this scripture (II Corinthians 5: 17) that I've ever heard It came to her byway of her grandmother ...who died at 85.
Her grandmother could not read or write. She had four babies when her husband walked off ...not to re-appear for 25 years. Her grandmother asked my .friend -her granddaughter -"will you read the Bible to me? " Yet this was before she started to school!
"You can just imagine my sitting there, " she said "and trying to read the Bible to my grandmother.
I'd never seen the words. I would stumble so ...and yet she thrilled every time I tried to read the Bible. ..
"I've never known a woman like my grandmother, " she said "I've never known a woman of such gratitude. At night she would  p ray so loud you could hear her next door ...where I lived And she'd say: 'Lord ...thank you f or this day. Thank you for being true to
your promises. Thank you for letting me take in enough washing to raise my babies. Thank  you for never forsaking me.' "
It was from the mouth of that grandmother that she heard something that her grandmother must have heard at someone else's knee. It's the story of an American couple who went to England ...celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary. Both the man and his wife are fanciers of antiques. ..pottery and china. When they come to Sussex they pass a little china shop.
They instantaneously stop ...back up ...go in. Their eyes single out a little teacup on the top shelf "May I see that? " he asked "I've never seen a teacup like it. It's beautiful! " But suddenly the teacup spoke ...
you don't  understand ...I haven't always been a teacup. There was a time that I was red. ..and that I was clay. My master took me and rolled me . ..and patted  me over ...and over ...and over. I yelled out: 'let me alone!' But he only smiled and said" 'Not yet. , "Then I was placed on a spinning wheel... , " the teacup said "Suddenly I was spun around ...and around ...and around 'Stop it ... I'm getting dizzy ! ' I screamed
The master only nodded and said: 'Not yet! '11
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"Then he put me in an oven ...I've never felt 'such heat. I wondered why he wanted to bum me ...and I yelled and I knocked at the door. I could see him through the opening ...and I could read his lips as he shook his head ...'Not yet. ,"
Finally the door did open ...whew! He put me up on the shelf... and l began to cool. 'There ...that's better' I said
Then suddenly he brushed me. ..and painted me all over. The fumes were horrible ...and I thought I would gag. 'Stop il ...stop it! , I cried "He only nodded: 'Not yet 1
"Then suddenly he put me back into an oven ...not the first one ..but one twice as hot. I knew I would suffocate. I begged ...I pleaded ...I screamed ...I cried All the time I could see him through the opening ...nodding his head and saying: 'Not yet 1
"Then I knew there was no hope ,.. and I would never survive ...I was ready to give up. But the door opened ...and he took me out ... and placed me on a shelf One hour later ...he handed me a mirror and said: 'look at yourself , "And l did... and l said: 'That's not me... it couldn't be me! I'm beautiful!'
I want you to remember, he then said I know it hurt to be rolled and patted ...but if I had left you ...you would have dried up. I know it made you dizzy to spin you around on the wheel... but if l had stopped ...you would have crumbled I know it hurt ...and it was hot and disagreeable in the oven ...but if I hadn't put you there ...you would have cracked I know the fumes were bad when I brushed you ...and painted you all over, but you see ...if I hadn't done that ...you would never have hardened. There would have been no color to your cheeks; and if I hadn't put you back in that second oven, you would not have survived for very long ...and the hardness would not have held Now ...you're a finished product ... You're what I had in mind when I first began with you!    Author unknown