ONE HEARTBEAT AWAY -PART 72

 ONE HEARTBEAT AWAY

PART  72



(Mark Cahill's Book)


I was in Kansas City, getting onto my plane.  I put my bag in the seat I was going to sit in. The lady next to me was dressed all in black, with silver hair and gold jewelry. It was a real nice contrast. She appeared to be around 60 years old.

I said "hello," and she was friendly back. But I noticed she was reading The New York Times, which is a very liberal (there-is-no- God) newspaper.

I remember thinking, this is going to be a short conversation (by the way be careful what you think: you might be totally wrong).  After getting settled we introduced ourselves: her name was Sheila. Then I asked her why she had been in Kansas City. She told me she had been to a funeral. My hopes for a good conversation increased because I knew she would be thinking about death.

I asked her who had died, and she told me it was her nephew. I asked her how he had passed away. She looked at me and said, "I just met you. I don't know if I should tell you."

I looked at her and told her that if she felt comfortable with telling me then that would be fine. Then she told me that her nephew had committed suicide. I told her that one of my students had done that a few years ago. So we began to really talk.

About twenty minutes into the conversation, something truly amazing happened. I had mentioned  "God "  kind of generally, at one point. She had mentioned "spiritual"  at another point. But nothing with any depth had happened so far, as far as talking about spiritual things.

I asked Sheila if she was Jewish 
and she told me that she was.
Suddenly she looked at me and asked totally out of nowhere , " Why does someone like me need to receive Jesus for the forgiveness of my sins? Why can't I just be a good Jewish person who keeps The Ten Commandments to be right with God?  Why do I have to receive Jesus for the forgiveness of my sins ?  It would be much easier for me to become a Christian and go from the minority to the  majority. Why do I need to do that?"

My jaw about hit the floor. I couldn't believe this lady asked me that. It is amazing that I often think that people won't talk with me when it comes to eternal matters. Then God puts someone next to me who is in "search mode, "  and I only have to be obedient in what I say to them. God has worked in their hearts and they are ready. All that is needed is to place the seed of truth or to water the seed that is already there.

After Sheila asked that enormous question, or series of questions, I stood up and got my Bible from my bag in the apartment above me, and we talked the whole flight about Yeshua being mentioned in the Old Testament. 
(Jesus' original Jewis name is Yeshua, which means "Salvation.") 

I once listened to a tape
 about a guy who was a 
completed Jew, - that is  he had accepted Jesus as the Jewish Messiah. He said that he came to 
believe this after a Jewish person who believed in Jesus suggested that he read four things in the Old Testament, and then ask himself the question : 
"Who is this referring to?"

He thought that sounded fair and so he tried it. 
(1)  Isaiah 53 talks about a suffering   
       servant . His answer was that 
       chapter was talking about Jesus.
(2)  Psalm 22 talks about the 
      crucifixion of the Messiah. He knew
      that  described Jesus' death.
(3)  Jeremiah 31: 31-34 talks about 
       how there is an Old covenant and 
       that someday there will be a New
       one. He hadn't known about a 
       new covenant. Now he did.
(4)  Daniel 9:24-27  talks about how
       the Messiah will be cut off and 
       then the city would be destroyed.
       When the Old Testament talks 
       about  "the city "  it is always 
       in reference to Jerusalem. And we
       know from history that Jerusalem
       was destroyed in 70 A.D. So the
       Messiah had to have come before
       that!

This man said that at that point he 
knew that it was Jesus, and Jesus 
alone Who could have fulfilled that prophecy.

I also like a fifth verse :
(5)  Proverbs 30:4  tells us that there
       is a God , and then asks the
       question: "and what is His Son's 
       Name?"

So, the Jewish scriptures proclaim in these and many other passages that the Son of God would come at a particular time and manner.

next post  tomorrow 22nd  January