A ROCKY FOUNDATION

                           The story is told of a man in a fancy restaurant who started to choke on a bone.  A doctor rushed over, identified himself as a doctor, and reassured the man that he was going to be all right.  He performed the Heimlich Maneuver and the bone popped out. As the man's breath and voice returned he said, "I'm ever so grateful, doctor, how can I ever repay you?" The doctor smiled and said, "I'll settle for one tenth of what you were willing to pay while you were choking." Matthew 8:22-27 is a remarkable moment in the life of Jesus when his authority over the elements is seen. This incident is also recorded in Mark 4:35-41 and Luke 8:22-25. After a busy day Jesus told his disciples to get into the boat they cross to the other side. Jesus was exhausted and he fell asleep. The evening was calm and pleasant and quiet rested upon the lake. Suddenly a severe storm came upon them. T...

  Peter Cartwright a nineteenth-century circuit-riding Methodist preacher known as the "Lord's Plowman" was an uncompromising man. One Sunday morning when he was to preach, he was told that President Andrew Jackson was in the congregation, and warned not to say anything out of line. When Cartwright stood to preach, he said, "I understand that Andrew Jackson is here. I have been requested to be guarded in my remarks. Andrew Jackson will go to hell if he doesn't repent." The congregation was shocked and wondered how the President would respond. The sermon he preached was from Isaiah 26:4 " Trust ye in the Lord for ever: for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength ."   After the service, President Jackson shook hands with Peter Cartwright and said, "Sir, if I had a regiment of men like you, I could whip the world." The Apostle Peter and John were arrested for healing a lame man, causing a stir in Jerusalem. In Acts 4:7-15 we ar...

  The June 1988 issue of Mission Frontiers, the bulletin of the U.S. Center for World Mission, describes the arrest of Xu Yongzhe, an itinerant evangelist from China, who risked coming to Beijing so that he might meet Billy Graham. Xu Yongzhe was a fugitive for refusing to follow a government policy designed to prevent itinerant evangelists from preaching the gospel. Yet despite persecution, house churches overseen by Xu Yongzhe had grown from 200 to more than 3,000 during the previous eight years. In Acts 4 we find the first persecution of the Church by religious leaders; other than Jesus trials and His crucifixion. In Acts 4:1-7 we read “the priests and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees came up to Peter and John while they were speaking to the people. They were greatly disturbed because the apostles were teaching the people, proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead. They seized Peter and John and because it was evening, they put them in jail until ...