The Instant Bible
Using the Colors of Christ | by Charles Cagle"Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that neediest not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth" 2 Timothy 2: 15 (KJV).
Props: Bible - crafted to hold colored coil of ribbon. The ribbon must be rolled each time you use it. To make the coil of ribbon you'll need it about 1-1/2" wide and 12" long for each color. Then sew them together to make one long strip beginning with the black, red, white, green, and yellow ribbon. After use, I re-roll mine around a pen, and put it back in the Bible. Use a good quality of ribbon so it will hold up under use. (To craft the Bible, I used an old Bible and glued several pages together, then with them pasted together, a pocket was made so that I have a place to pull the ribbon
from. Alternatively, fold the ribbon and place inside a Bible without creating a
pocket.)
Today, we have many versions of the BIBLE. We have the King-James version which came out in 1611. Also the Revised and Standard Revised, the American Revised, the New International Version, Moffett, Goodspeed, Phillips, Living Letters, Amplified, Berkley and we could go on from here. All came about to make the Bible more understandable.
I now have a newer version still, I call it the "INSTANT BIBLE," because I can go through it in about THREE MINUTES, and it will bring out some instant truths all of you should know.
Notice the marker. It is BLACK (have your black end of the ribbon hanging), the black marker in this Bible stands for SIN. Not only is it black, but it is very long. It stands for a truth that goes back to the beginning of time and now sits like a king on a throne to this day.
1) The first truth we need to know about ourselves is that we are not perfect:
Romans 3:23, "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God."
Isaiah 53:9 "All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned every one to his own way."
Jeremiah 17:9 "The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked."
David the Psalmist said in Ps. 51: 5- " In sin did my mother conceive me." When God looked upon creation, he was grieved and said, "Every imagination of the thoughts of man’s heart is only evil continually."
This is a black picture and each of us fits right into the frame. That is why the marker is BLACK. This is the first truth from the INSTANT BIBLE.
2) But I have good news. When God saw our sin, he sent a Savior (pull ribbon to
show the RED part) This Savior was born to die as payment for our sins. His blood was shed on the cross. The whole story of our sin and redemption is packaged in Romans 6:23, "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."
3) (Pull ribbon again to show the WHITE part) White stands for cleansing and forgiveness and purity. God said in Isaiah 44:22- "I will blot out as a thick cloud thy transgressions."
Paul said, in 2 Corinthians 5:17, "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature, old things are passed away, behold all things are become new." No matter what kind of sins or bad habits we may have and of whatever color, God has said that, "Though your sins be as red as crimson, or black as a storm cloud, he would make them as white as snow" Isaiah 1:18.
4) When we come out of the black by way of the red and into the white, we should be green. GREEN stands for fruitfulness. In the spring, the trees get green buds, then leaves, then blossoms. In the center of the blossom, little green balls appear. These become the fruit. The growing fruit is green most of the summer. It stays green as long as it keeps growing. Then it gets ripe and is harvested. Unless it is harvested, it gets rotten.
This can happen to Christians. They will stay green as long as they are growing and fruitful. When they stop being green, they get too ripe and dry up or rot.
What kind of Christian are you going to be, a green, growing, fruitful one, or a dried up one and only fit for the rotten barrel?
5) (Pull ribbon to show the YELLOW part.) Yellow is the color for glory and heaven. There the streets are paved with gold. God didn’t tell us much about heaven. I guess he thought that its beauty would make us become so anxious to get there we would be unhappy here on earth. The Bible tells us there is no night there and that the sun will not need to shine there because the glory of the Lamb of God will outshine the sun. There is no pain, nor sorrow, nor death there, and God will wipe away all tears from our eyes. There is no curse there and no hunger or poverty. The trees will yield their sweet fruits once each month instead of once each year and the leaves of the trees will be for the healing of the nations. There will be no more wars and no bodies of cripples from the wounds of war.
Let’s run through the INSTANT BIBLE once again: BLACK (stands for sin), RED (for the blood of Jesus), WHITE (for forgiveness), GREEN (for fruitfulness), and YELLOW (for heaven).
Jesus is in heaven now, preparing a place for his children. He said, "I go to prepare a place for you, that where I am there you may be also" John 14:6.
Copyright 2002 Charles Cagle, Child Evangelist
cagle_c@msn.com
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