Big Short Story

The left train never came back to the house. Today is a monument, place to visit. It is a designated historical site.

But there are a few interesting things. One, there's a graveyard. A cemetery on the actual grounds. There's no humans buried there. The only thing buried there are cats. Six-toed cats. Yes, they have six toes. And there are still cats today, those descendants of the ones who are in the ground running the entire grounds and estates. They come in the house, they sit on the beds, they go wherever they want to go.

Hemingway was an interesting character. He was born in 1899, died in 1961 from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Killed himself, but his father did the very same thing.

But Hemingway was one of the greatest writers of our age. Farewell to Arms, one of his books, For Whom the Bell Tolls, The Old Man and the Sea. He won a Pulitzer Prize and also the Nobel Prize for Literature in the 1950s.

Hemingway was considered a writing genius. He wrote thousands, thousands of short stories and books, known for seven novels that were published. Many of his short stories were made into movies, to have and have not. No classic Humphrey Bogart movie, one of his short stories.

Hemingway enjoyed writing and it sometimes came very natural. It just would flow. It is thought when he was run out of Cuba, because he had a home in Cuba, that they let him escape, but he had three to six thousand stories left in the house in Cuba that are still there, are in Cuba's possession today. But he was known as one who liked to have people over at his home in Key West, especially in the winter time. The literary giants of its day, James Joyce, F. Scott Fitzgerald, would all go to his house as many writers would spend their winters. They're in the home on Key West.

One day, over lunch, as they were sitting around talking, they challenged this writing genius of Hemingway. They challenged him, well, let me put it better. They bet him. As each one pulled out ten dollars, which in the 1920s was more like a hundred dollars, pulled out a hundred dollars and put it on the table, many of them, and they challenged him and said, we're betting that you cannot write a short story in six words. In six words. To which, Hemingway pulled out a napkin and wrote these six words.

For sale, baby's shoes, never worn. Any of you who have ever read stories will know how just some words on a piece of paper conjure up thoughts all through the rest of the day. Just a few words on a page can send your mind into overdrive as you begin to picture what those words mean. As you visualize those pictures, you start thinking. As Hemingway looked at his group of people and they all slid their one hundred dollars to him.

Impactful, emotional, such a moving story because it is a story. A story with just six words.

I would like to tell you today that we have a big short story. A six-word short story for all of us in this room today. A story so emotional, so moving, so impactful that it has hopefully changed and is changing our lives daily.

Those six words. Christ died so we can live. Christ died so we could live. Romans 6.23, many of you know it. The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ. Eternal life. Christ died so that we can have eternal life. Live forever. Does it not have some impact on us? One man died so that many can live forever. The wages of sin? Death. We don't have to pay it. He pays it for us. So that we can live, not only live now, but live for eternity. John 10.10, a whole chapter of the tenth chapter of John in the Gospel. Christ starts out telling about being a great shepherd. Being the shepherd that He is for us. And He says, I came that you may have life and live it more abundantly. I came that you may have life. He came and died so that we may have life and live it more abundantly. Are we there yet? Are we living abundant life? Because He paid the ultimate price for us to do that. So not only today, but also forever.

Pretty big short story. But it doesn't end there. Christ died so that all the world could live.

We all know the verse. John 3.16. For God so loved the world, not just us, world, for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.

Wow! The entire world.

Turn with me to Matthew 26, please. Matthew 26, as we will see in about a month or so, five weeks. This will be read of Passover. But I want you to focus what He said in Matthew as we usually read from the book of John on Passover night. But here is Matthew's account of it. Matthew 26, verse 27 and 28. He said, Then He took the cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink from it, all of you. For this is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. As many as want to claim it. It's opened the entire world. But as we know that wine is just symbolic of His blood, as we take Christ into ourselves. We take the bread as His body, wine as His blood, and they're symbolic, and He wanted it that way. Because we're not only told to take on Christ, we're to take in Christ. The same Spirit that guided Him as He walked in these frail bodies we have. And now for us. And it says in Acts 20, verse 28 that the church of God was purchased by Christ on blood. So it just isn't an individual thing. It's for us who are called out of the world who God is working with. It is for the church of God, as we heard about in the sermonette. Thank you, Mike.

But it's also for the world as a whole. Because He desires that everyone come to the understanding. That's why it's an incredible plan. An incredible plan.

But it says that Christ died. I've never had anyone die for me. I've known a few guys in war that were veterans of wars. I know I met a girl in my school that her mother died giving birth to her. But I've never had anyone die for me. But I remember almost 50-something years ago, maybe 45 years ago. I was in the eighth grade. And my best friend at the time was named Joe Curtis. And Joe, me and another guy, were always getting into something.

And because the school we were at was a former high school, they had moved to this new high school down the road. And so we got the old high school in the eighth grade. And they had the old lockers, if you remember, the old kind of lockers that slid up and they were very narrow. And so we thought it was important because only high school kids got those. So we were feeling kind of big in eighth grade. We got those lockers that the high school used to get. And you used to have to pull it up, and it had a little place there that you could put a lock on it. Remember those, Jeff? And the thing back then, 45 years ago, was they didn't really have combination locks. Nobody used them. They just had the old kind of Yale lock that you just go in there and you lock it. Well, I did not know it, but Joe Curtis, a very smart guy, he figured out or found a way to find a cutoff key and filed it down so he could open any of those locks. It's just a little key and, you know, they were simple then. Nobody thought about doing that. Well, he did. And we thought it was so funny because we could get into these lockers. And then, my idea was, let's open the lockers at somebody that we don't really like that much. And we'll put a plastic cup of water, and we will fill it half full and then lean it against the door and close it and lock it back. So when they opened it up, water came out everywhere. And then we would sit back, the three of us, because I kind of put the idea together, Joe opened that, I kind of put the water in there, and then Donald would sit there and watch the door making sure no one saw us. So three of us were coming in it, and it was so funny the first time. But then it accelerated. Next I used milk, which made a mess. And then I got some marbles, and then it went everywhere. And then the principal found out.

And someone told him it was Joe Curtis. So we called him into the office and said, who else was in this with you?

He said, because you're going to get a paddling. Because you know they had the old wood paddles. And Joe said, just me. He was lying. And he said, well, I'll tell you what, Mr. Curtis. He used to always tell us that. Mr. Curtis, if you tell me who the other ones were involved, you'll only get one lick. But if you don't, you're going to get three. To which he said, no. Nobody else.

And so he got his...

I still remember that all these years later, because he took mine. I should have gotten it. He took mine. But that is awfully small potatoes compared to who took my sins.

And hopefully 50 years, if I ever lived that long, I will not forget what Christ did for me. And hopefully you won't either. Another point. Christ died so that we could have the Holy Spirit. Christ died so that we could have the gift of the Holy Spirit. Turn to John 14 with you, if you will, please. John 14. John 14.

Verse 15. John 14, verse 15. If you love me, keep my commandments. That's powerful words. You can't just say, oh, if you love me, keep my commandments. No, Jesus Christ is pounding that. If you love me, keep my commandments. Powerful. Then he says, and I will pray, the Father, and He will give you another, what? Helper, comforter, Greek word parakletos. Parakletos. A helper, a comforter, a teacher.

That may abide with you forever. Even the Spirit of Truth whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. Through the Holy Spirit. We have Christ with us. Through the Holy Spirit.

And He said, I will never leave you orphans. I will come to you. And when we need Him, hopefully you are asking that He come to you.

And in verse 26, but the parakletos, the helper, the comforter, the Holy Spirit, which the Father will send in my name, He, using the masculine pronoun, He will teach you all things and bring to your heart the Lord. And bring to your remembrance all things that I have said to you. That's how He teaches.

But we know from chapter 16 that it says, unless I go, unless I die, the comforter cannot come.

So He died. So that we could have the Holy Spirit. He died so that we could have a part of God Himself with us and in us. The very essence of God, if we could relate it to human terms, which is not even close, we would say He even, even, has even given us a part of His DNA.

A very essence, a part of Him. He gives to us.

So that we can not only live for eternity, but to have life and live it more abundantly.

Perhaps your parents or grandparents die, and they'll leave you something.

Right? I started to bring this little black book. It's a little black book here, and it's a Biblical terms. It's from the 1930s.

And I keep it on my desk, and it's a very thick little book. It's a very small writing. Sometimes I have to put my reading glasses on to read some of it. But it was left to me by my grandmother when she died. Did her funeral. She was 100. 99. She was only a few days away from being 100, or a week away from being 100. Whenever I would visit her, we would talk Scripture. One of the books that I gave her, she wanted to make sure that it was returned to me. That was 100 favorite Scriptures, a book. And I circled mine, and so she would go and read mine. You know, after these inspire me, Grandma.

So she sent that book back, but she sent the little black book. Because she carried that for 70, 60, 70 years of her life. When my mother dies, as she talks about, sometimes, well, this is going to this child, and this is going to this child, and Mark, you and Chuck are going to get the farm, and you'll get this and that, and so forth.

This is bigger than anything anyone could ever leave you.

Because whatever is left of you will perish, but eternal life is forever.

That's big. That's big, all because Christ chose to die. Another point, Christ died to light the way for us. Christ died to light the way for us.

Go with me to 1 Peter 1. 1 Peter 1.

1 Peter 1, verse 15. 1 Peter is trying to say, knowing that you were not redeemed. We were redeemed. You realize you were redeemed means to recover, to reclaim, to repossess, to save, to buy back, to regain. He says, knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things like silver and gold, from your aimless conduct received by traditions from your fathers, means He's called us out of the world. We don't do that anymore. But with the precious blood of Christ as a lamb without blemish and without spot. Christ just says, why?

Because Romans 8 and 29 says, we, He was the firstborn of many children. We are the children of God because our elder brother came first. See, it was an experiment, really, because He was the first of His kind.

Holy flesh, but holy God. Flesh, body, but He had the Spirit of God, the mind of God. He came to prove it could be done. And He shows us it can be done. That we can live like Him. We won't be perfect, but we can work towards perfection. It's what He would like us to do.

It was said in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5, verse 14, He says, You are the light of the world.

Light.

That's why John 8, 17 said the same thing. Jesus Christ said, I am the light of the world. Why are we the light? So, who is it? Are we the light or is Christ the light? Christ is the light.

But just like the moon reflects the sun's light, we are to reflect Christ's light. If we reflect Christ's light, if we're Christ-like, we're light, our light shines. And it glorifies Him.

I don't think way back, if I ran into my old principal, he would think, back then, I was a very good light.

Otherwise, it wouldn't have been in his office so much.

But God begins to work with us. And we can have, what does it say?

Philippians 2, 5, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. Let this mind be in you. See, I don't look like Christ. You don't look like Christ. Outside. But we're supposed to look like Him inside. And our actions, what we do, how we act, how we conduct ourselves, they're going, that's not natural.

Love your enemies, that's not natural!

All the many things. Look at that guy, let me cut him off. He doesn't need to be driving that fast anyway. We're light! Now, let him go.

Because God's Spirit, God's Spirit teaches us to have the mind of Christ.

Paul wanted to get that across to the Ephesians, didn't he? The church at Ephesus.

It says in Ephesians 5, 8, Walk, walk!

As children of light. Boy, that's a heavy command. That means everything we do, wherever we go, wherever we walk, we're to walk as children of light, which is Christ!

He helped the helpless. He loved the unloved.

How about us? Christ died so that we could live like Him, so that we could be that light that's going to shine.

Another point. Christ died so that we could become like Him.

Kind of in the same vein. But this is the purpose for us being alive today.

Okay? Why are you here?

It's that image.

Go with me to Galatians.

Go with me to Galatians 4.

Verse 6. Read from the New King James Version. And it says, And because you are sons of God, because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son then an heir of God through, Jesus Christ.

But He says He has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts.

Are we there yet? Are we still got a little hardness to our hearts? Guilty? Guilty? Thank you for being honest. Guilty?

It says, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart. That's hard to do unless you have Christ's heart.

That's why He said, If you've seen Me, you've seen the Father. Why? It was about the heart. Do you need a heart transplant?

I just talked to an elder, Georgia, the other night, and he had to have a pacemaker put in because his ticker wasn't working. His heart wasn't working like it should.

It had to keep his heart in rhythm. But he had that three weeks ago, and it hasn't kicked on yet, because his heart's working.

What about us?

Do we need a spiritual pacemaker to make sure we can keep our heart pumping, pumping the spiritual blood of Christ through this body?

Let's go down to verse 14. Galatians 4. Galatians 4, let's go to 19. Galatians 4 and verse 19, My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is, what does it say? Mine says formed. Formed in you. He's laboring until we become like Christ. Until you begin to see the church is just full of little Christ.

That's what it's about.

Until Christ is formed in you. Not there yet, but I keep working it. Because that's my purpose for being on earth, is to be like Christ.

Go with me to Ephesians. Ephesians 4. Ephesians 4. Ephesians 4 and verse 13. New King James, Till we all come to the unity of faith. Well, I don't think his church is there yet. And to the knowledge of the Son of God. I think we understand as a church, we understand who the Son of God is, we understand our purpose, we understand why that. But we're not totally there yet.

Because I can have a really good week, but one day or two days sometimes gets very messed up.

And I'm not where I need to be. And I read this book, as we were instructed to build the house. I read this book, and all I did was read it.

An hour later, I don't remember what I read.

I gotta work on that. I gotta work on that. It says, "'Til we all come to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man,' I just asked my wife if she's married to a perfect man.

Don't laugh, just ask Vicky. Humberto. Ask Melita. We're not perfect men yet, you know? "'To the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.'" And it's not talking about stature. It's talking about how big Christ was. Somewhere about five, three to five foot four tall. Like the average man at the time. Not talking that.

But the fullness, the fullness of Christ, man, that's a tall order every day. But you know, I've found out in my walk with Christ 40 years, almost 40 years, that I try, but I'm not.

I don't have the fullness of Christ quite a few days a week. And as I get to a certain time of the year, like this one, I realize I struggle even more. And it's why I need, and God knew why we need the Holy Days.

I knew I needed Passover and I needed the Days of Unleavened Work. So I can draw closer to God. So I can become and get a greater vision that Christ died so that I could live and live like I'm supposed to. And that, I keep working on the stature of the fullness of Christ. I want to be full of Christ. I want to be full of that heart. Which means, and that's the beauty of it, I see when I'm not. I see when I'm not. And it shows me, hmm, why did I say that? Why did I think that? Why did I look at that and then look at it again? And it says, no, you're not there yet. Keep working. Keep working. So that we can. Because Christ died so that I could be. I could be full of the Holy Spirit. Amazing when they described Stephen in the book of Acts 6-7. Stephen the Deacon, and he stood up there and he was martyred. And it said he was a man full of faith in the Holy Spirit. So he was full of the, his fullness was full. The entire stature, however big he was, he was full of the Holy Spirit. But wait a minute, he wasn't an evangelist, he wasn't a minister, he was just a deacon. Before that he was, had been a deacon very long. But he is a man full of the Holy Spirit, and God took him.

I don't think he's going to take me for a while. Because measuring stick is not there. Thankfully, God, through Christ, is still working with me and he's working with you. Because of Christ's death, we have so much. I touched on five different areas. Because of Christ's death, we have so much. So many riches have been given. You see how rich you are? Plan the next trip to Haiti with me. You'll see just how rich you are. But the richness when it is the Holy Spirit, aren't you thankful you're not wondering just what in the world, why am I here? What is God? Who is God? What is the purpose of life?

At age 61, Ernest Hemingway put his favorite double-barrel shotgun in his mouth. He was on his fourth life, and he pulled the trigger. Said he had a lot of pain, physically. He'd fought in wars, had two very bad plane crashes. It should have killed him, but didn't. But he had all the riches you could want. Fame! Consider the greatest. But yet, you read his family and friends. He didn't know really why he was here, on earth. And he was tired of living it.

It was more painful to be alive than it was to die, to put that gun in his mouth. We have been given such riches from above, the Word of God. And as I've said before, I think many of you have opened up your Bible, started reading, and all of a sudden, something hits you that you've never heard before. You don't know where it came from, but it came from God. And you understood it as no other time. And you knew it wasn't this brilliant intellect you have up here in your gray matter.

Or you've seen God perform a miracle in your life, in other people's lives. You've prayed, and God's answered the prayer with a yes this time. And you know, you know where it came from. And as your future comes into play, the older you get, that I may not make it out of this one alive. You know there's something bigger than what in our seeming way could even envision with a genius of a mind of creating stories. The Bible says you can't even dream, 1 Corinthians 2.9, what God has planned for you.

But the beautiful thing about it is that it just didn't happen 2,000 years ago. Yeah, Christ died, but He died way before that. Revelation 13, 8 mentions the first mention of Passover. It said that Jesus Christ was slain from the foundations of the world, millions of years before that Passover He sat with His disciples. He died. The plan was that He died millions of years before. Man was even created yet.

But the thing that gets me, it's not that someone would think enough of me to die, because He did. But it's the way He had to die. It's the way He had to die, beaten beyond recognition, even His mother didn't recognize Him. Beat and beat. Suffering. He died for me. That someone would think enough of me to die is humbling, to say the least. There's only one word I can describe that, unworthy. You feel unworthy, as we should. There are many stories, true stories, that came from the Civil War.

I hope I didn't mention this one before. But it was of the ultimate sacrifice. During the Civil War, the North had many more officers, larger troops, than the South. And they were fighting for the first two or three years of the war. The South was actually winning. They had better strategists, better marksmen, and shooters. And there was a battle somewhere in West Tennessee. And during the battle that went on for days, the South, being underman, decided that they would use their marksmen.

And they would just go out and shoot the officers, and kill the officers. So every battle, they would just fight a little bit, and then run into the trees, and just kill anyone they could see was an officer. And they were wiping the officers out quickly. And so they said, well, that's not what you're supposed to do in war. Well, I guess there's rules to war. They thought so. At which time, then, they sent a runner over and said, you're going to stop doing that on our battles. Because for every officer you kill, we've got some prisoners of war.

We're going to bring ten regular men out. We're going to shoot them. We're going to execute them. So for every one you kill, we're going to. The next day, the first one killed, and the battle was an officer. So when the battle stopped, they went to the prisoners of war, gathered there, and they pulled out ten men to go to a firing squad that was going to be in front of the whole Southern Army.

And as they were ready to go, there was a young man there, and he was from the same area as an older man who was in his forties. And as they were hauling him off, the older man said, no, let me take his place. He said, he's the only son. There's no other brothers that want to carry that family on. He said, I've got kids. I'll take his place. And he did. And they shot and killed him. And the young prisoner of war survived the rest of the war, came home, and went and told his family about this man that took his place.

And to this day, I read this about 15 years ago. That marker, because there is a marker for that man, every year, a young man's family, even 100 years later, come back and they decorate that grave. Because this young man came back and had children, grandchildren, and that continued on. The ultimate sacrifice. If that was done for him, shouldn't we view Christ's sacrifice even greater? May God just ask us once a year to focus on Passover, on what was done for us.

Just once a year. The biggest and best short story I know is in six words, that Christ died so that I could live.