Five Frogs

Bill was the apple of his mother's eye. He had a great job, a good income - and an insatiable appetite for alcohol. From the time he was nine years old, he entertained the men at the local store by lapping booze from a saucer like a kitten.

By the time Bill was in his 20s, his drinking cost him his job, his dignity and almost the people he loved. After drinking heavily one night, he returned home, flew into a rage and chased his sisters with a butcher knife. Later, his drinking - and ultimately even cocaine use - took him to jail and then prison. Hopeless, one night he was walking down Chicago's South State Street, his feet protected only by shoe soles tied on with rags. He was heading for Lake Michigan to end his wasted life. Then he heard the music - a hymn he remembered from his childhood. It was coming from a rescue mission. And it drew him inside. There a mission worker reached out to him with these words from the Bible: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life" (John 3:16).

On the night Bill planned to end his life, he gave his life to Jesus. And he would say, from that day on, "I wasn't a reformed man - I was a transformed man." A young man who had thrown his life away with booze and drugs ends up with wrong thinking. Our jails and prisons are full of men and women that who were productive citizens but now have sold themselves way too cheap for a life with a dead end. The stories are countless of those who have wrecked their lives and some even to the point of ending them. Not long ago a man who lived just a few miles away from our home had kicked his cocaine habit of many years. He had been clean for awhile, no police had been by to pick him up and all looked as if the past was the past. Then it happened he got over confident went on a trip and before he knew what had happened he was using cocaine again. Then the police came and he was in big trouble. He couldn’t face up to his failure so he came up with a solution; he would just end his life. I wish his story ended the way Bill’s did but unfortunately it didn’t. He went out the door of his home with a pistol in his hand his wife right behind him she was begging him not to. He turns and tells her to get back in the house or he will kill her too. Around the house he went and the next thing his wife heard was a gunshot, he had ended his cocaine habit but in the process he destroyed lives. It would have been much better had he been transformed from his awful habit. The answer is still the same as it was for Bill; JESUS!

John 8:31 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;

John 8:32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

 Sin will always take you further than you want go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay but the TRUTH SHALL MAKE YOU FREE. This should be a no brainer but the simplest things are often overlooked. Just remember there were five frogs sitting on the edge of a log. Four of the frogs decided to jump into the water. How many frogs were left sitting on the log? Five, deciding to jump is not actually jumping, jumping and deciding to jump are two different things. Deciding to work at a problem is not the same as working on the problem. You may sit on the side lines and watch the game but it is not playing in the game. Knowing where the truth maybe found is not the same as knowing the truth. “If” you continue in my word Jesus said then you are my disciples indeed. Webster says the word “Disciple” A learner; a scholar; one who receives or professes to receive instruction from another; 

 The Word of God which is the truth MAKES FREE.