August 4th, 2000, Friday Evening
-- FAITH PROMISE MISSIONS CONFERENCE --
DAY 3
"Your Heelprint"
Your feet speak for you wherever you go
(Special Guest Missionary: Pastor Pat Boulton)
OPENING: Job 13:27, KJV
- You are fearfully and wonderfully made by God. We're all a little different ...
unique.
- We all want to see a little less/more here and there on our flesh. But that
doesn't matter because whether you're 6 or 60, 30 or 330, God made you and is pleased
with you because He created you.
- Job 13:27: Your "heelprint" is the print in your heels.
God put them there--not "mother nature." Examine the bottom of your foot. God has
entrenched a print there that only you possess. God carved this print while you were
still in the womb (which by the way is an act of God not a biological happening).
- You'll notice a newborn baby in its first day doesn't have finger or thumb
prints but it does have a heelprint.
- Joshua 14:9: Your feet are awfully important to God.
This verse conveys that where your feet walk is your inheritance (in the context Moses
was speaking about). That's how powerful your feet can be!
- Matthew 15:8: The words of God are absolutely true whether
you believe them or not. NOTE: As you read this verse in the KJV, a "jot" is
the smallest/9th letter of the Hebrew language. A "tittle" is the tail you put
on the letter "O" to make it a "Q".
- Matthew 10:14: Here the feet are talked about again!
Your feet track your history. It is an indication of where you have been.
Therefore, as Christ specifically said, if you leave a city that wants not the word of God,
don't just walk out, "shake the dust off your feet".
- SO THREE QUESTIONS!
- #1: HAVE YOU BEEN TO THE CROSS?
- Matthew 11:28: God wants you there. People come to the cross
when they are tired of sin. They know God hates sin.
- TESTIMONY (True story): Pastor Boulton encountered a late teen-age girl.
She said she wanted to know more about God and that she was "living" with her boyfriend,
Tom. Pastor Boulton saved her and showed her words from the bible about what she was
doing wrong--that she shouldn't be living with him unless they were married. Later,
Pastor Boulton encounters her boyfriend, Tom. Tom says he needs to borrow Pastor Boulton's
motorcycle for a 30-mile trip for a job interview. The pastor allowed this on the
condition Tom would come to church to get
saved.
Two days go by and the bike isn't back in the garage. The pastor gets a collect call.
Tom is visiting his sick mom in Rhode Island--oh, and his girlfriend is with him.
So Pastor says to return as soon as possible. Two days later, a collect call again.
Tom is now in Virginia, now. Wanted to take his girlfriend someplace she's never been.
In addition, Tom said the brakes had been worn out and he needed money to buy new ones so
he could come home. So pastor gave his credit card number to the mechanic to have the $90
brake job done. (Incidentally, when pastor got the bill, turns out Tom charged more--so
both tires could be replaced, too!)
Two days later, the bike is back in the garage. Pastor goes to visit Tom's house and
it turns out to be completely empty. Pastor was understandably upset. The whole purpose
of letting Tom borrow the bike is so Tom could get a job so he could come to church to
get saved.
A year later, as pastor performed his jail ministry, he would approach each cell (which
contained 15-20 men) with his big bible in hand and say, "Anyone interested in hearing
from the bible how you can go to heaven?" If no one looked at the pastor or came to the
bars, the pastor would move on. And the next cell the pastor came to, he asked the same
question. A familiar voice, "hi pastor Boulton." It was Tom. Turns out Tom had moved
out of his apartment because his girlfriend said they can't live together anymore and she
returned home to her parents' house. This was a comfort to pastor Boulton. Pastor said,
"Tom, are you saved? Do you want to be saved--now?" Tom approached the bars and said,
"Yes ... yes I do." Pastor Boulton replied, "Then walk over to the center of the cell,
kneel down, and pray with me." (Note that 10-15 other inmates were in the cell, watching
Tom closely. Tom began to sob as he knelt in the center of the cell--his back to the pastor.
His crying was not out of embarrassment but rather true repentance.
Tom was tired of running (sinning) and now wanted to come to terms with Christ--proof
that this verse of scripture is true.
- #2: HAVE YOUR HEELPRINTS BEEN TO THE CROSSROADS OF LIFE (baptism)?
- A "crossroad" being, "if it's PG-13, it doesn't belong in this house!"
- When a woman's underwear commercial comes on TV, women react indifferently.
They think nothing of it. Men cannot help but have ulterior thoughts to
that commercial--thoughts that are sinful. The channel couldn't be changed sooner!
- Do you go to church not just Sunday morning but evening, also? Wednesday evening?
Sunday school?
- When you get into the bible, you set your own newer, higher standards.
If God is leading, you're in the back. You're praying and living for God.
You don't need to double-check your decisions with the pastor as to whether
something is right or wrong. Your guide and counsel are the literal words of the bible
(God's words). The pastor is not for decision-making but rather to help interpret the
words and commands of God. It is you that must decide!
- A message to teen-agers: You shouldn't date anybody unless they NOT ONLY
claim to be saved but claim to serve God, as well.
- In God's Economy, if you want a little blessing, you put a one dollar George
Washington bill in the plate. If you want a large blessing, you do the math as to how much
you believe you should put in.
- #3: HAVE YOUR FEET BEEN TO THE CROSSWALK?
- Romans 10:13-15:
- How are lost souls going to be saved without
going out to reach them? Without being visible so they can find you?
- The Lord knows/understands who is helping the gospel outreach and who is caring
for his church--no matter how simple the task:
- Mowing the church grass
- Jail ministry
- Nursery coordinator, etc.
- Consider the missionary's footprints that have tracked all over the world
trying to reach lost souls. Did you contribute to the church collection plate to directly
assist the financial needs of that missionary whose footprints were, say, in China? If
you did, then a little bit of that footprint belongs to you!
CLOSER
- Your feet...
- They're not just meant for the ball game...
- They're certainly not meant for the bar...
- Have they been soulwinning as much as they have been golfing??
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