The Untold Story
Pastor Michael
Joseph Gowon
"Ask those who are now old. Find out what their
ancestors learned” (Job 8:8)
Story
telling is one of the oldest habit common to every culture since creation.
Thousands of stories have been told and a thousand more are still being told,
but I believe that there is this supreme story that is still untold. To me that
story is not just mere history, it is His – Story. Perhaps some of the stories you were told
many years ago in your childhood or in your early days in school still stick to
your memory. It is sad that most of such stories were idle and vain fables and
fictions that excite us; some even instills fear and never bless our hearts.
Some of those stories were lies meant to promote culture, tradition, mythology
or reincarnation or outright mysticism. The stories our ancient parents told
their children is far different from those we tell our children today. We tell
our children stories about monkeys and baboons, snakes and snails, rats and
rabbits, witches and wizards, . . . and yet the real story of all stories
remain untold.
In
those days Abraham would tell his children about the Flood and how Noah was
saved in the Ark. In ancient Israel parents would tell their children about the
Red Sea miracles and the plagues of God upon the Egyptians and their final
deliverance.
They
told about how God send for them Manna from heaven . . . gave them water from
the rock to drink at Rephidim, how he turned bitter water to sweet at Marah. .
. The mothers also would tell their children about Jesus walking on the water,
how he multiplied bread from a small
boy’s lunch to feed over 3000 men excluding women and children. They tell about
the transfiguration and the crucifixion of Jesus. They tell the story of his
death and resurrection.
The
Bible says in Job 8:8 that, “For enquire,
I pray thee, of the former age, and prepare thyself to the search of their
fathers” How I wish these are the same stories we are telling our children
today. There are thousands and one children who though growing in Christian
homes, have never heard mummy or Daddy tell them just one story about Jesus or
heaven or hell or the Bible. A boy once cried during his father’s funeral
saying, “Oh, if he had prayed with me only once . . .”
It
seems the Psalmist also have heard from his father the stories of the things
God had done in the past. He exclaimed in Psalms 44:1-2, “We have heard with our ears, O
God, our fathers have told us, what work thou didst in their days, in the times
of old. How thou didst drive out the heathen with thy hand, and plantedst them;
how thou didst afflict the people, and cast them out.”
Gideon
echoed the same thing when he said, “. .
., Oh my Lord, if the LORD be with us, why then is all this befallen us? and
where be all his miracles which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not the
LORD bring us up from Egypt? but now the
LORD hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites” (Judges
6:13).
We need to find the secret of their success and the reasons for their failure too. Simply because you have information does not mean you have wisdom, there is something in wisdom that only years can give. Sit down and look into the eyes of these gray-haired men and women and find out what life is all about. The Bible says, “Remove not the ancient landmark, which thy fathers have set” (Proverbs 22:28).
- How Enoch was translated
into heaven directly without having to die? Genesis 5:24
- The
defeat of the Amalekites by Joshua who won the battle when Moses stretched forth
his hands supported by Hur and Aaron over the mountain? Exodus
17:8-13
- How
the walls of Jericho fell down flat when the children of Israel only sang songs
of praise and worship to the Lord? (Joshua 6:6-20).
- Of
Joshua who commanded the sun to stand still over the valley of Ajalon and
the sun and the moon obeyed him? (Joshua
10:12-14).
- Samson
who killed a lion with his bare hands in Judges 14:5-6 and how he carried the
city’s gate to a nearby hill? (Judges 16:3).
- Elijah
and how he multiplied a certain widows’ oil to last through for the period of
drought? (1 Kings 17:12-16), how he raised the widows’ son from the dead to
life? (1 Kings 17:17-25), how he won the
contest over the 450 prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel (18:38), and how
he held back the rains for three and half years and released the rains
at his time?
- Elisha
and the several miracles he performed. He cured Na’aman (2 Kings 5:27),
made the head of an axe that had sunk into the water to float on the surface
defying the law of gravity (6:5-7); knew all the wicked plans of Benhadad from his bedroom and revealed all to
the King
before it happens (2 Kings 6:8-13); how his bones resurrected a dead man
who was thrown into his grave? (13:21).
- Hezekiah
whose prayer changed the mind of God and was given an additional 15 years to
live making the sun to roll back fifteen degrees?
- Daniel
who was thrown in the lion’s den, but survived it, he became a friend to the
lions? (Daniel 6:16-23).
- The
three Hebrew boys, Meshak, Shedrack and Abednego who were thrown into the lake
of fire but were not burnt? (Daniel 3:19-27).
- Jonah
who was swallowed by a fish, yet he repented and prayed and God ordered the fish to vomit him alive on
the land? (Jonah 2:1-10).
- The
Impotent man who waited for his miracle for 38 years until Jesus met him and
asked him to simply take his mat and go home? (John 5:1-10).
- The
man who was born blind in Jerusalem and Jesus healed him miraculously – John 9
- A man with a withered hand in Galilee who
received restoration? (Matthew 12:10-13).
- Widow’s
son in Nain, who was dead, but when Jesus met them on their way to the grave
yard, he touched the coffin and restored the young boy to life again? (Luke
7:11-17).
- The
woman with the issue of blood, who for 12 years suffered without any remedy
until she made up her mind to touch the hem of Jesus’ garment and when she did
the fountain of her flowing blood dried up immediately? (Matthew 9:20-22).
Like
the Bible says there are men who are dead yet they are still speaking because
they were fire brands in the midst of the dry grass. They roared like lions
destroying the activities of Satan in their generation and promoted the kingdom
by proclaiming the message of God’s love from John 3:16.
Nobody
ever believed that the darkness of Rome could be broken, but God through Martin
Luther did it suddenly. He stood up condemning Papacy, purgatory . . . . and
all the Romanistic heresies that were embraced and accepted by many. In fact it was said, that priests
sold small bottles of holy water for people to take to prevent them from getting
captured by Luther and the move of the Holy Spirit. Yet by faith, the
protestant reformation prevailed and
truth consumed the nations bringing multitudes to genuine repentance and
salvation through Jesus Christ.
He was a preacher who traveled from town to
town in little country Churches. One of his strong held Methodist beliefs was
that dancing is a terrible sin. One day Peter preached in a certain town that
was notorious for it’s big saloon (it was called an inn in those days). Peter
didn’t like saloons at all, for not only did he preach against alcohol and it’s
evils.
She was quite different from most Pentecostal
women and especially women preachers in the 1930’s and 1940s. She’d say, “who
cares about all the do’s and don’ts? I’m going to dress nice. I’m going to wear
my wedding band. I’m going to put on lipstick.” She did it, too. She was a very
attractive woman. She got more people saved and healed in her meetings than
most – despite the jewelry, makeup, and all.
This is one man of God with a strong anointing
on his life. He only sleeps a few hours every night, even when he was over 70
years old! He is a constant, diligent worker. People who knows him, says he
gets by with such a moderate amount of sleep at night, because of the call of
God on his life. One day while sleeping. He suddenly heard a loud noise of
movements in his parlour. Though tired and weary, he managed to wake up and
headed right out to the parlour. On arriving h saw the shameless devil there
standing in rage. Sumrall discovered he had shifted his furniture and when he
understood that it was the devil he
exclaimed “So it is you and returned to his room to continue his much
needed sleep. Then he remembered he had displaced his tables and Sumrall shouted,
“but before you leave rearrange my tables
back to the position you met them. . .” He ignored the devil and went on to
sleep. Wao!!
When Charles Finney was a lawyer, he didn’t
like God too well. He went to Church basically for show to prove to the people
in his town what a good moral person he was. He simply wanted to live up to
society’s standard for a good lawyer.
Finney came out from under those logs a
born-again Christian, ready to preach the Gospel, ready to plead men’s cases
before God instead of in the courts of the land. Finney went back to his office
and said, “I quit.” People asked him, “What are you going to do?” Finney
replied, “I am going to preach.” Finney went to a nearby street corner, started
preaching, and never stopped. He was called the greatest revivalist since the
Apostle Paul. He knew what it was to move in the power of prayer and to go into
cities and destroy the devil.
He was a man who believed in persistence. He
builds and directed a Bible School in Spokane, Washington. He used to say to
his students, “We’re going to give each of you the name of a sick person. They
need prayer. You are to go to them and pray for them to be healed. Don’t come
back until they are healed. If you do, you’ll have to deal with me!”
The Untold Story
John
3:16 is the most popular verse in the Bible, yet it is still the most untold
story ever. Let me share with you ten reasons why it is still the untold story
of our time. John 3:16 reads:
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that
whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” KJV
For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world
that He [even] gave up His only begotten ( unique) Son, so that whoever
believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish (come to
destruction, be lost) but have eternal (everlasting) life. AMP
John
3:16 is:
1.
An Old
Story
Over 2000 years
ago God demonstrated his love on Calvary’s cross by giving his only begotten
Son to die in our place. That same old story should never be changed or
compromised. There is no any other way to be saved except by heeding to the
same old story of salvation through Christ.
2.
A True
Story
You do not need
to doubt the story of John 3:16 because it is absolutely true. The Bible is not
a fiery tale, it is not a fiction, it is true, it is a fact. Anne Graham said
John 3:16 is “the North Star of the Bible and if you align your life with it,
you can find The Way home.” Cece Winans a Gospel Artist said it is “the very
foundation of her faith.” Mac Powell said it
“the gospel in a nutshell”, while Frank S. Page the President of
the Southern Baptist Convention of
America said it is “the Mount Everest of Scripture Passages from God.” In talking about John 3:16, Max Lucado
painted it this way. The words of the text are a parade of hope, beginning with
God, ending with life, and urging us to do the same. If you know nothing of the
Bible, start here. If you know everything in the Bible, return here. We all
need the reminder” . . . He said, “The heart of the human problem is the heart
of the human. And God’s treatment is presented in John 3:13. He love, He gave,
we believe and we live[1].”
3.
A
Great Story
The text of the
King James version of John 3:16 made up of 25 words is the greatest story ever
told. It is the best loved and best
known verse in the Bible. Martin Luther called John 3:16 the miniature Gospel.
It has also been called the gospel in a nutshell. Apostle Bobby Hogan said, “There is no
greater story a man can hear than the story of how God loved us so much that He
gave Jesus so that we do not have to go into eternity lost[2].” There
is no greater news a sinner can hear than that he can have eternal life through
Jesus Christ our Lord.
Years ago a doctor in a
hospital ICU gave a certain preacher
only two minutes with a lost dying woman who had called for him in her dying
hour. The doctor told the preacher he would give him only 120 seconds with her.
He wondered for a while what he could say in such a short time? Then God spoke to his heart in a split
of a second and said, "Give her
John 3:16 and pray the sinners prayer with her.” It was all she needed. She
died in peace and at peace with her Savior.
4.
A
Loved Story
It is a love letter
from God written in blood and addressed to all. The mind of man will never grasp the love of
God. All we can say is the love of God is uncaused, uninfluenced, spontaneous, and
sovereign. The whole Bible is centered on the message of God’s love for
humanity. That is why you must accept Christ’s offer of love before you can be
able to share the love from the abundance of your heart to our dying
generation.
God’s love is an
everlasting love. It is unending love with no beginning. God had no beginning
so his love have no beginning. All earthly love have a beginning but God’s love
reaches back to before the world was as well as forward to when all mountains
are but dust. God’s love is infinite, illimitable, and unbounded. The little
chorus sung by children says it best, "Wide, wide as the ocean, High as
the heaven above, Deep, deep as the deepest sea Is my Savior’s love." A
sinner may go to hell unsaved, but he cannot go to hell unloved. Walter Wilson said that "No one in all the world could
possible love everyone in the world. In fact most people find it difficult to
love all their relatives." But God has found it possible, with His great
heart of love, to love every individual in the entire world in spite of his
faults.
The Bible says that God loved us in that while we were yet
sinner he died for us.
God loves the Jews, the Russians, the Chinese, the Arabs, the Americans, the
Africans etc. He loves the sinner not the sin, the criminal not the crime, the
rebel not the rebellion, the liar not the lie, the idolater not the idol.
In fact God loves all. John 3:16 tells of this love. For
Christians who have experienced the saving grace of Christ, John 3:16 is a
loved story. When they hear the story of God’s offer of love, the price he paid
for our salvation it makes many willing to pay any price to make this message
reach the unreached even if it will cost them their dear lives. Today there are
testimonies of many who laid their lives down to reach the lost. John 3:16 is
indeed a loving story loved by many who are in constant spiritual romance with
Jesus as Lord.
5.
The
Needed Story
John 3:16 is the
needed story.
It is needed
because of its power
It is needed
because of its promise
It is needed
because of its privileges
It is needed
because of its coverage.
It can meet your
every need in this life and in the life
to come.
It
sets is recipients at a greater advantage than its rejecters.
Many
have sought refuge in some names other than Jesus and were disappointed. The
Bible said, “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name
under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). John
3:16 is the needed story for all ages and rejecting it is
forsaking the only ray of hope left for you and accepting it opens a flood gates of blessings beyond human
comprehension. It is truly the needed story of our time and I call upon
believers everywhere to be on duty, speak it, write it and share it. We must
share the good news in season and out of season.
6.
The
Urgent Story
Jesus said, “. .
. The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the
Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest” (Luke
10:2). There are still multitudes in the valley of decision. “Multitudes,
multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the LORD is near in the
valley of decision” (Joel 3:14). That is the more reason why believers must run
with the message of hope encapsulated in John 3:16.
We do not have
time to waste, time is really running out on us and multitudes are yet to hear
this story. According to Isaiah 5:14, “. . .hell hath enlarged herself, and opened
her mouth without measure: and their glory, and their multitude, and their
pomp, and he that rejoiceth, shall descend into it.” Multitudes are
daily rushing into hell into an eternity separated from God and yet no one is telling them that Jesus
loves them. False religions, half-truths and all forms of doctrines are being
circulated free of charge and it is our duty to get the truth out urgently. The
“king's
business required haste”(1Samuel 21:8).
7.
A
Saving Story
The story of
John 3:16, offers salvation and deliverance from the bondage of sin. It is a
cup of cold water to a man lost in the desert. It is eye to the blind, it is
hearing to the deaf, and a new tongue to the dumb (Romans 1:16). It is John
3:16 that has lightened the path to heaven for multitudes.
In the city of Chicago, one cold,
dark night, a blizzard was setting in. A little boy was selling newspapers on
the corner; the people were in and out of the cold. The little boy was so cold
that he wasn't trying to sell many papers anymore. He walked up to a policeman
and said, "Mister, you wouldn't happen to know where a poor boy could find
a warm place to sleep tonight would you? You see, I sleep in a box up around
the corner there and down the alley and it's awful cold in there for tonight.
Sure would be nice to have a warm place to stay."
The policeman looked down at the
little boy and said, "You go down the street to that big white house and
you knock on the door. When they come out the door you just say John 3:16, and
they will let you in." So he did. He walked up the steps and knocked on
the door, and a lady answered. He looked up and said, "John 3:16."
The lady said, "Come on in, Son." She took him in and she sat him
down in an old split bottom rocker in front of a great big fireplace, and she
went off. The boy sat there for a while and thought to himself: John 3:16....I
don't understand it, but it sure makes a cold boy warm.
Later she came back to ask him
"Are you hungry?" He said, "Well, just a little. I haven't eaten
in a couple of days, and I guess I could stand a little bit of food." The
lady took him in the kitchen and sat him down to a table full of wonderful
food. He ate and ate until he couldn't eat any more. Then he thought to
himself: John 3:16... Boy, I sure don't understand it but it sure makes a
hungry boy full.
She took him upstairs to a bathroom
to a huge bath filled with warm water, and he sat there and soaked for a while.
As he soaked, he thought to himself: John 3:16... I sure don't understand it,
but it sure makes a dirty boy clean. You know, I've not had a bath, a real
bath, in my whole life. The only bath I ever had was when I stood in front of
that big old fire hydrant as they flushed it out.
The lady came in and got him. She
took him to a room, tucked him into a big old feather bed, pulled the covers up
around his neck, kissed him goodnight and turned out the lights. As he lay in
the darkness and looked out the window at the snow coming down on that cold
night, he thought to himself: John 3:16...I don't understand it but it sure
makes a tired boy rested.
The next morning the lady came back
up and took him down again to that same big table full of food. After he ate,
she took him back to that same big old split bottom rocker in front of the
fireplace and picked up a big old Bible. She sat down in front of him and
looked into his young face.
"Do you understand John
3:16?" she asked gently. He replied, "No, Ma'am, I don't. The first
time I ever heard it was last night when the policeman told me to use it."
She opened the Bible to John 3:16 and began to explain to him about Jesus.
Right there, in front of that big old fireplace, he gave his heart and life to
Jesus. He sat there and thought: John 3:16.I don't understand it, but it sure
makes a lost boy feel safe.
I have to confess I don't understand
it either, how God was willing to send His Son to die for me, and how Jesus
would agree to do such a thing. I don't understand the agony of the Father and
every angel in heaven as they watched Jesus suffered and died. I don't understand
the intense love for me that kept Jesus on the cross till the end. I don't
understand it, but it sure does make life worth living[3].
No Prophet except Jesus gave his
promise to save your soul and kept it. This is clearly explained in John 3:16.
It is good news to the lost and to the dying. It is a cup of cold water to a
man lost in the dry dusty desert. It is eyesight to the blind, hearing to the
dumb. It is legs to the crippled, and hope
to the hopeless. It is makes a cold boy
warm . . . makes a hungry boy full . . . makes a tired boy rested . . . and makes a lost boy feel safe. The story of
how God loved this world will change a man when he hears and believes it. Paul
said, “I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God
unto salvation to everyone that believeth” (Romans 1:16).
8.
A
Hated Story
The devil can’t
stand hearing it. He hates that message of love and if it were possible he can
do anything to ensure it is not told. If ever there was a verse in the Bible
that Satan would love to be blotted out, it would be John 3:16 It makes hell
tremble. The devil cannot stand to hear it and he doesn’t want the story told
that God loves you and do not want you to stay lost in your sins.
Today, it is
very clear that no matter what the enemy does to stop the gospel, it will only
help to make it grow and expand. He tried to kill Jesus when he was young.
Herod ordered all children two years and below to be killed, but he could not
succeed in getting Jesus. Early Christians were burned alive and were forced to
recant their commitment and believe but the gospel expanded and consumed the
world. It does not matter how he hates
the gospel, Jesus is unstoppable, until
the whole world is covered with this
message of the Kingdom.
9.
The untold
Story-
According to the statistics of missions over 50% of the world’s population have
never heard about Jesus. Most of
these people are Hindus, Buddhists or Moslems or people involved in witchcraft
or the occult. In one foreign country Apostle Bobby Hogan shared that a group
of missionaries were just in time to reach an old man. When they told him about
Jesus Christ and about God’s love he was gloriously saved. For the first time
in his life he knew joy instead of sadness. But then all of a sudden he turned
to the white missionaries and said, “Why have you waited so long to come to our
village? My wife is already dead. My brothers and sisters and my children are
all dead. They never heard the Gospel. Where are they now? Why did you wait so
long to come and tell me the story of God’s love?[4]”
The old story is
all too often the untold story. This world need to hear the story of Jesus,
that, He saves and His blood washes whiter than snow. Romans 10:14 says, “. . .
and how shall they hear without a preacher?” If you are a believer, then you
are a messenger of God’s love explained in John 3:16. And of some have compassion,
making a difference. And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire;
hating even the garment spotted by the flesh” (Jude 1:22+23).
10.
A Timeless Story
There are many
today who claim that certain portions of the Scriptures is no longer valid for
our day, but I am here to tell you that the Bible is timeless. The message will
continue to be relevant for now and for many generations to come. You can trust
God’s Word, you can rely on His promise and sure enough He will do what He says
He will do that, “. . . whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have
everlasting life” (John3 16b).
What will you do with your life?
The decision is yours to accept
or to reject the finished work of Christ on the cross. You can ask Jesus to
take over and be the Lord of your life. Pray this prayer with me: Lord Jesus, I
know I have been ruling my life, I now surrender to you. Please take over my
life, come into my heart and be the Lord
of my life. Thank you for answering my prayer in Jesus name Amen. You can
contact us at the address below for further support and help.
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