Thursday Fellowship – John Casse
We welcomed John Casse back to Thursday Fellowship and were delighted that he was able to play the piano in Lis’s absence. Thank you so much John!
John’s talk was in two parts.
Part One: John read the poem Three men, three crosses, one hill – author unknown
Interestingly this was the same poem that Sue read last week and one that she brought to our Good Friday service. It is a poem that has impacted many people since that first reading!
Three men, three crosses, one hill.
One man cursed, one man prayed, one man promised.
One died condemned, one died forgiven, one died innocent.
One died in sin, one died to sin, one died for sin.
One was held by death, one was released by death, one conquered death.
One lost life, one gained life. one was life.
Thank you Jesus for your sacrifice and Praise God we have eternal life!
All three were in one place at the same time but with different outcomes. Where do we stand? What is the relevance for each of us?
Part two:
John then told us the story of Tobias and Ollie Ham. Who you might say? Well their son, Mordecai Ham, a travelling evangelist from the age of 9 was used by God to bring Billy Graham to faith! How wonderful that those godly parents planted God’s Word in the hearts of their children – and look at the impact of both Mordecai’s and Billy Graham’s ministries.
We read the story of Saul’s conversion in Acts 9 and how Ananias despite having doubts and fears because of all the terrible things he had heard about him, was used by God to minister to Saul and bring physical and spiritual healing. Ananias was faithful to God’s call. There was no sense of pride, he approached Saul as a brother and was used mightily to fulfil God’s purposes.
Does this apply to us, John asked? It does! Are we ready and willing to listen and then respond to God’s call? We may not see the end result but the important thing is to be obedient and faithful. Jesus brings life and He uses each one of us with all of our different giftings and abilities. So let’s be ready to serve Him. We are not a nobody – we are somebody!