Latest / Bible Tract Echoes Podcast / What's a Hindrance?

Transcript

What's a Hindrance? · Bible Tract Echoes Podcast

• 0:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: Hey friend, welcome back to Bible Track Decos.
• 0:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm Mike McCurry, your host.
• 0:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: Thank you so much for joining me right here today.
• 0:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: This week on the program, I'd like to speak to you about something that could be a matter of life or death.
• 0:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: and I'm not talking about, though, incredibly important it may be, I'm not talking about physical life or physical death.
• 0:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm talking about eternity.
• 0:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm talking about something.
• 0:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: a particular notion that just might affect someone's eternity, their eternal life, or an undying eternal death.
• 0:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm talking about tracks.
• 0:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: You say, well, for the Micah, you are the director of Bible Tracks Incorporated it would make sense that you talk about Bible Tracks, that you talk about gospel Tracks, that you talk about these little pieces of paper that contain the gospel, some Bible verses, some explanation, an introduction, an explanation of how to know you are on your way to a place called heaven, how to have peace with God a relationship with God.
• 1:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: It would make sense, Micah, that you talk
• 1:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: Well, the reason I'm talking to you about these little tracts right now is because I have discovered, I have developed the notion, the idea that we are struggling with hindrances to our usage of tracts.
• 1:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: I could tell you story after story of people that have accepted Christ as a result of tracks.
• 1:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: My father-in-law was preaching not long ago.
• 1:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: He's been a preacher for 40-plus years, and he was telling a not too distant past story.
• 1:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: Dear man in our church who passed away not long ago, but he was a driver for airport pickups.
• 2:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: He was picking someone up at the midway airport in Chicago, and he knew the area pretty well, their flight got delayed, and so he was driving around, just looking for a place to stop, and he needed to heed the call of nature.
• 2:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: He needed to use the restroom, and so he pulled over there was a porta-potty in a park there near midway.
• 2:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so what did he do?
• 2:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: He went to the restroom, and he left a gospel tract.
• 2:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: And that gospel tract, with our churches information on it, my father-in-law being the pastor, they're in Dwight for forty-something years in Dwight, Illinois.
• 2:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: That gospel tract was picked up, and it was read, and someone had a questions.
• 2:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: In that gospel track resulted in a group of people, this person that picked it up, read the gospel track, was so intrigued by the folded it gingerly, tentatively, and put it in there, they're wallet, and they called the church and asked, for the pastor, if he would be willing to come and explain what this gospel track really had to say and provide a little bit more introduction and
• 3:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: and a group of people, that person, some of their friends ended up accepting Christ because of one gospel track.
• 3:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: Now, that's just one story.
• 3:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: We've had it literally hundreds over the last, even just the last calendar, 12 months, literally hundreds that have let us know that they've accepted Christ because of tracks.
• 3:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: and they're so easy to use, but there are hindrances.
• 3:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: There are stumbling blocks.
• 3:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: Now, what is a hindrance?
• 3:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's a big word.
• 3:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: The act of impeding or restraining motion.
• 3:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: And in this case, we're talking about positive motion.
• 3:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: We're talking about great commission motion.
• 3:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: We're talking about gospel motion hindrances.
• 3:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: of gospel tracks, it's an impediment, that which stops progression or advance in obstruction.
• 3:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: Well, today I want to talk to you about a hindrance to using tracks.
• 4:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: Lord willing, at the end of the program, I'm going to tell you about a specific track that I'd encourage you to order from our website, BibleTracksink.org and you can order them for free.
• 4:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: Our ministry has been putting them out for over 80 years, for free, free as the Lord provides.
• 4:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: But before we do that, before you'd even consider using a gospel track, I want to talk about a hindrance.
• 4:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: This one might infect and affect all of us.
• 4:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm talking about self-confidence.
• 4:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: Self-confidence has been a stumbling block, a hindrance, and obstruction and impediment to many a good idea.
• 4:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, ideas, ah, there's millions of good ideas.
• 4:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: Execution on the other hand, the act of following through, that is much harder.
• 5:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: You ever thought of something some invention, and you never did anything with it, and then you see on TV, an advertisement for the exact thing.
• 5:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: Maybe you watched a show like Shark Tank or something.
• 5:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: Hey, I had that idea, but maybe you didn't have the self-confidence to follow through on the idea.
• 5:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: Now, someone else is a millionaire.
• 5:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: far more important than having a large company, very much more profound than a bank account that is busting at the seams, or having a bunch of people in the sea suite that report to you as the CEO far more important than that.
• 5:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: is being faithful to God's command.
• 5:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel.
• 5:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: It is a command.
• 5:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: It was not the great suggestion.
• 5:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: It was the great commission.
• 5:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: And as God's last command, he hasn't counter-manded that.
• 6:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: He has not counter-acted.
• 6:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: He has not said, well, actually I was kidding about that.
• 6:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: 2000 years ago, the last thing I said before I left for heaven, I was joking.
• 6:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: No, it is still a commission.
• 6:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's still a command.
• 6:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: And it's still great.
• 6:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's still weighty.
• 6:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's still a responsibility for you.
• 6:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: And for me, but our biggest hindrance, and this is why I'm talking about this one first.
• 6:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: We'll have four others.
• 6:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: Lord willing, we'll talk about this week.
• 6:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: But the reason I'm talking about this one first is because often I am my greatest enemy.
• 6:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: Now, for me personally, I don't often get irritated at the mistakes of others.
• 6:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: Honestly, I'm pretty laws-of-air.
• 6:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm pretty laid-back.
• 6:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm not too high-strong, most of the time, and I think my wife can attest to that.
• 6:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: But there are sometimes when I can get a little chippy, I can get a little torqued, if you will.
• 6:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: And you know what, most of those times have in common,
• 6:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: me.
• 7:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's almost morbidly amusing that I will get more irritated at myself for missing a turn while trying to pay attention to the GPS.
• 7:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: Then I do just about anything else.
• 7:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know what it costs me all of four and a half minutes, I have to go down to the next exit after turn around and all the while I'm thinking, what?
• 7:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: And forgive me, what an idiot you are.
• 7:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: Michael, how did you miss that turn?
• 7:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: I get so irritated at my
• 7:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: self.
• 7:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, not just in those momentary spats of anger, but just in general, I am my own worst enemy.
• 7:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I think if we were honest, we would all say the same thing.
• 7:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: Otherwise, we would be falling prey to a victim mentality, where everything is, someone else's fault.
• 7:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: And that is not a truthful or a good place to live.
• 7:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: Because if it's someone else's fault, then there's nothing I can do to fix it.
• 7:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so that's not a place that we want to live.
• 8:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: But I want to ask you if you would to go to your Bible.
• 8:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to go to the book of John for just a moment.
• 8:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to share a gospel verse with you, a Bible verse with you that may
• 8:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: but I also want to share a story.
• 8:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: John chapter 20, and verse number 21.
• 8:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: We're talking about self-confidence here, but our confidence should not be especially in this area.
• 8:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: Our confidence should not be in ourselves.
• 8:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: Our confidence must be and should be in God.
• 8:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: Let me give you a verse to prove that
• 8:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: Then said Jesus to them again, peace be unto you.
• 8:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: As my father had sent me, even so, send I, you.
• 8:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: Enjoy the illustration of
• 8:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: mailing a letter.
• 8:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: Now that's not something we do often.
• 8:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: Usually we send text messages don't we call people.
• 9:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: If I asked you if we took a poll of all listeners and said how many of you have sent a text this week, we'd probably all raise your hands.
• 9:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: If I asked you have you visited that blue box down at the post office, be far fewer of us.
• 9:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: But think about those letters.
• 9:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: You've mailed one before, right?
• 9:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: In the middle you have the address to whom the letter is being sent.
• 9:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: for every man, woman, and child, and it was paid for in the top right-hand corner, those stamps well, they are stained in blood, because Jesus Christ paid the peddling one drop of his blood has enough atoning power for the entirety of the world.
• 9:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm so thankful for his sacrifice of himself.
• 9:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: But then there's another part, there's the return address, there's the sender.
• 9:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: What gives a letter power?
• 9:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: You get junk mail all the time, don't you?
• 9:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: New credit card, new cable, new new satellite TV, new serious ex-sum, you name it, whatever it may be.
• 10:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: But the reason some of those get torn half and thrown in the trash is because you don't have respect for the sender.
• 10:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: Well, in this area of the Gospel, God.
• 10:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: is the center.
• 10:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: And one day, you and I, blessed by, bought by the blood of the land, will stop bouncing around this, this postal system of earth.
• 10:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, the postal system does their best.
• 10:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think sometimes, but we mail a lot of tracks out and sometimes they go to the oddest places, even though the address is correct.
• 10:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: But you and I are going to leave this world behind and be returned to sender.
• 10:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: Friend, our confidence should not be in how nice our envelope is, what we look like.
• 10:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: Our confidence should not be in how smooth of a talker we are, or our charisma, or our personality.
• 11:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: No, no, our confidence is in He who sends us.
• 11:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: It reminds me of good old song.
• 11:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: you.
• 11:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: Songs as this, so send I you, to labor, unrewarded, to serve unpaid, unloved, unsought, unknown, to bear, rebuked, to suffer, scorn and scoffing, so send I you, to toil.
• 11:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: for me.
• 11:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: Alone.
• 11:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: You say, hold on.
• 11:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: You're not encouraging me to use gospel tracks.
• 11:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: Well, that song was written by a Canadian school teacher.
• 11:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: Many years ago.
• 11:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: Her name was Margaret Clarkson.
• 11:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: She was born in 1915.
• 11:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: She was a teacher in a gold mining camp in northern Ontario, Canada, lonely, lonely life.
• 11:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: She wanted to be a missionary on a foreign field, but her health of physical disability precluded her from being able to do that.
• 12:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: While meditating on that verse we read John 20, 21, God gave her this song, I already read the first verse.
• 12:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: The second says this, so send I you to bind the brewed and broken.
• 12:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: or wandering souls to work to weep, to wake, to bear the burdens of a world and weary.
• 12:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: So send a you to suffer for my sake.
• 12:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: Now I've bumped up against time today, so I will tell you about this gospel tract.
• 12:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: You can know, you can get it on our website, BibleTracks.org, you can know is the title, I'll tell you about it tomorrow, and I'll share more of this song, but I want you to think about what are you allowing to hinder, to be a hindrance, to using gospel tracks.
• 12:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: First, right now, if you don't have them with you, you need them, so go order some for free.
• 13:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: on our website bibletracksink.org.
• 13:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: We'll talk more tomorrow.
• 13:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: Have a great day for your glory.
• 13:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: God bless.
• 13:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for tuning in to Bible Tract Echoes, the radio ministry of Bible Tracts Incorporated.
• 13:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: Want to see our gospel tracks and other resources?
• 13:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: Visit us online at BibleTracksInk.org that's BibleTracksInk.org or follow us on social media to learn how you can partner with this ministry.
• 13:40
  [SPEAKER_00]: Thanks again for listening.
• 13:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: May the Lord richly bless you as you live for Him.