Soon to be released:
Changed by Johnny Hunt
The best part about being a pastor is seeing lives changed.
The worst about being a pastor is when lives are not changed. It happens too often. I am burdened these days about the church members whose lives are unchanged. Barna says most Christians seem to live their lives indistinguishable from the world....a tragedy in his view.
I spoke at a meeting with David Platt recently. He arrived a little late, explaining and apologizing as he came. “I had a flat, and as I was fixing it, I got hit by a Mack Truck.” A goofy grin communicated he was kidding. Everyone knew that if had been hit by a Mack Truck, he would look different. You don’t get hit by a Mack Truck and it not change you.
You don’t meet God and it not change you.
I spoke at a banquet recently with Georgia Bulldog coach, Mark Rick. As a young assistant coach at Florida State, Mark heard Bobby Bowden share the gospel. One of the players on their team had died and Bobby Bowden wanted to make sure that every player on his team had heard the gospel.
Bobby said, “See that empty seat? That is where he sat. Now he is not here. He is in eternity. I don’t know where he is, whether he is in heaven…”
Bobby used a word we don’t hear much, except at a curse word: Hell.
Even in our pulpits we don’t hear too much about Hell. I appreciate what Brandon Park says about this, “Pulpits today say too little of Heaven and Hell. Preachers are too cautious to offend. We can’t get people out of Hell and into Heaven by ignoring the subject.”
Bobby was concerned that none of his players went to Hell without hearing the gospel. He couldn’t do anything about whether they responded. He could do something about whether or not they heard.
After the talk, Rick approached Bobby and said he wanted to be forgiven of his sins. Bobby Bowden led Mark Rick to faith in Jesus Christ. At that banquet, I heard Mark say these words, “God transformed my heart.” That is how it always starts. That is what this book is about: changed hearts and transformed lives.
Mark went on to explain that although God changed his heart in an instant, he had a lifetime of thoughts in his mind that needed to be transformed. His mind was like a computer. The hard disc of his mind was filled with images and thoughts that being saved did not erase. Mark will spend the rest of his life allowing God to transform his mind and behavior.
It only took an instant for Mark to be justified. It takes a lifetime to change a life.
God changed my heart on January 7, 1973. In an instant I was justified before God. He is still transforming my mind and my life.
Brandon Park, After Life, Pulpit Press. Page 5.
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