Home

THE COURTROOM

If tonight you stood in Heaven's court, to seek eternal favor.

Would you face Jesus Christ as judge or would you Him as your Savior?

There are many who don't know quite for sure what that verdict would be if ever.

So let's imagine for a moment your standing dead center in the courtroom of forever.

Sitting before you is a structure Massive and intense. It's here your fate will be determined, before this Judge's bench.

Then a voice booms, "This court's now in session". And your adrenaline starts to rush.

Peering down with eyes that see though your soul, is God the Father, your Judge.

Then off to your left across the room, is the silhouette of sin.

Stepping out of the shadows of condemnation, your worst nightmare walks in.

On his face is the smirk of evil incarnate, his mind fixed on your destruction in hell.

You've just been introduced to your prosecuting attorney, none other than Satan himself.

The Bible say's he's the accuser of the brethren, so guess what he's gonna do?

He's gonna accuse you of your sins.

And he knows them all, both the old and the new.

He's prepared his case for years.

Now the golden moment is his.

So in arrogance he presents his case to the Judge, and it comes out sounding something like this,

"God, You see this worthless piece of trash over here?

This one is a sinner to the core, this one has committed adultery, cursed his neighbor, stolen money, been into drugs and even more."

"This hopeless wretch has even slandered friends and by that guilty face this whole courtroom can tell that to moral certainty and beyond reasonable doubt this one deserves eternal judgment in hell."

The words of the accuser still echo, your every sin thrown up in your face.

Then God opens the book where every deed is recorded, and reviews your records of disgrace.

God says, "The book says you did this, this and this and everything you were accused of today.

Now, before I sentence you to hell forever, are there any last words you have to say?"

Now, if it's true you're standing there in the courtroom of eternity.

With God to your front and Satan the prosecutor to your left.

There's one remaining eternal truth, one that's crucial to remember, one you should never, ever, ever forget .............

That on the other side of the courtroom, is the one and only Son of God.

Revealed in time and space and

He's your defense attorney, who has never lost a case.

It's not Buddha, Mohammed or Krishna or any others who succumb to death.

Ladies and gentlemen on the other side of the courtroom is JESUS CHRIST OF

NAZARETH.

Then Jesus jumps up, says, "wait a minute Judge, now I've got something to say.

May I remind you that on a cross 2,000 years ago I washed his sins away"

"I was crucified, I died, then they put Me in a tomb, but long about the midnight hour the power of God hit Me and I walked out of that grave, alive and well with resurrection power"

Then the devil said, "It's in the book, it's written in the book, check the book,

and God said, "OK".

Then He takes the book out, lays it open and says,

"Now, we'll see what this book has to say"

He turns to the first page, the second page, the third, by the fourth, the devil seems shook.

God closes it and says, "the blood of Jesus must have worked 'cause there is absolutely nothing in this book"

The devil says, "Now wait a minute, check that book again, all his sins are written down, they're all right there"

God said, "devil, maybe you're mistaken all together, maybe it's this other book down here"

The devil cries, "NO! Not that book, not that one". God said, "devil, why you so uptight?"

God sets the book down, the dust flies and on the cover it says THE LAMB'S BOOK OF LIFE.

Is your name in that book?

Is your name in that book for sure?

If you've been forgiven and your name is written.

Then lift your hands, praise the Lord.

Yes, my name's in that book.

Yes, my name's in that book tonight.

I've been forgiven, and I know my name is written in the LAMB'S BOOK OF LIFE.

THE COURT IS ADJOURNED.

Saturdays

The older I get, the more I enjoy Saturday mornings. Perhaps it's the quiet solitude that comes with being the first to rise, or maybe it's the unbounded joy of not having to be at work. Either way, the first few hours of a Saturday morning are most enjoyable.

A few weeks ago, I was shuffling toward the kitchen with a steaming cup of coffee in one hand and the morning paper in the other. What began as a typical Saturday morning turned into one of those lessons that life seems to hand you from time to time. Let me tell you about it.

I turned the volume up on my radio in order to listen to a Saturday morning talk show. I heard an older sounding chap with a golden voice. You know the kind, he sounded like he should be in the broadcasting business himself. He was talking about "a thousand marbles" to someone named "Tom". I was intrigued and sat down to listen to what he had to say.

"Well, Tom, it sure sounds like you're

busy with your job. I'm sure they pay you well but it's a shame you have to be away from home and your family so much. Hard to believe a young fellow should have to work sixty or seventy hours a week to make ends meet. Too bad you missed your daughter's dance recital."

He continued, "Let me tell you something Tom, something that has helped me keep a good perspective on my own priorities."

And that's when he began to explain his theory of a "thousand marbles." "You see, I sat down one day and did a little arithmetic. The average person lives about seventy-five years. I know, some live more and some live less, but on average, folks live about seventy-five years. Now then, I multiplied 75 times 52 and I came up with 3900 which is the number of Saturdays that the average person has in their entire lifetime. Now stick with me Tom, I'm getting to the important part."

"It took me until I was fifty-five years old to think about all this in any detail", he went on, "and by that time I had lived through over twenty-eight hundred Saturdays. I got to thinking that if I lived to be seventy-five, I only had about a thousand of them left to enjoy. So I went to a toy store and bought every single marble they had. I ended up having to visit three toy stores to round-up 1000 marbles. I took them home and put them inside of a large, clear plastic container right here in my workshop next to the

radio. Every Saturday since then, I have taken one marble out and thrown it away. I found that by watching the marbles diminish, I focused more on the really important things in life. There is nothing like watching your time here on this earth run out to help get your priorities straight."

"Now let me tell you one last thing before I sign-off with you and take my lovely wife out for breakfast. This morning, I took the very last marble out of the container. I figure if I make it until next Saturday then God hasblessed me with a little extra time to be with my loved ones......

"It was nice to talk to you Tom, I hope you spend more time with your loved ones, and I hope to meet you again someday. Have a good morning!"

You could have heard a pin drop when he finished. Even the show's moderator didn't have anything to say for a few moments. I guess he gave us all a lot to think about. I had planned

to do some work that morning, then go to the gym. Instead, I went upstairs and woke my wife up with a kiss. "C'mon honey, I'm taking you and the kids to breakfast."

"What brought this on?" she asked with a smile.

"Oh, nothing special," I said. " It has just been a long time since we spent a Saturday together with the kids. Hey, can we stop at a toy store while we're out? I need to buy some marbles."

HAVE GREAT WEEKENDS AND MAY ALL SATURDAYS BE SPECIAL AND EVEN BETTER AFTER YOU LOSE ALL YOUR MARBLES.