A teenager in Portugal recently found a message in a bottle that had traveled at least 2,400 miles. A plastic bottle was tossed into the sea near Rhode Island in 2018 and found by a teenager spearfishing in the Azores. There was a notecard inside a Powerade bottle written in orange marker that read, “It is Thanksgiving. I am 13 and visiting family in Rhode Island. I am from Vermont.” The note included an email address to respond, but so far there has been no response to an email sent by the mother of the teenager who found the bottle.
“Words from Above” in the Bible tell us that there is a message which is far more important contained within its pages. The message is that God so loved the world that He sent His only Son Jesus to die on the Cross for the sins of all the people of the world. He died to pay the penalty for those sins, so that they can be forgiven and we can have the gift of eternal life. If Jesus had not died for us, we would perish in our sins and be condemned to spend eternity in hell.
Following the disobedience of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, God told the serpent that one day a descendant of Eve would deliver the people of the world from the spiritual death that it had brought upon them by convincing Eve to eat of the forbidden fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden. On many occasions thereafter, God commissioned prophets to give this message to the people of the world, but when the Deliverer came, many failed to accept Him. John wrote in John 1 that “Jesus came to His own people, but they did not receive Him. He went on to say, “But as many as did receive Him, to them He gave the power to become the sons of God, even to those believed in His name.”
When Jesus appeared on the Earth, He chose twelve disciples to travel with Him, and He trained them to share His story with the world following His departure from the Earth. In Matthew 28, He gave them and all future disciples a commission to “Go and teach all people, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all the things I have commanded you, and I will be with you always, even to the end of the world”. This means He wants all of His followers to take this message to the world, even if people do not always accept that message
Larry R. Steffee is pastor of the Center Hill Brethren In Christ Church on Miller Road in Smithville. Everyone is welcome to attend. For informa-tion, you may email lrsteffeetn@yahoo.com.
.
