- Hello, Alex Sasser here hosting another episode
of Touching Lives with Dr. James Merritt. We are so glad
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touchinglives.org/letter to register today. Thank you again for joining us and now here is today's
sermon from Dr. James Merritt. - You know the first
time I heard that saying that I saw on this sign, I
knew I would never forget it. Maybe you've heard this before. "Those who do not
remember the past "are condemned to repeat it." And it reminds us that
one of the greatest ways that we can prepare for tomorrow is by remembering yesterday. And it may explain why my
all time favorite subject in school from the time
I was in the first grade was American history. If I could do my life over
again, knowing what I do today, I majored in accounting,
it's helped my ministry in a lot of ways, but I
love American history, especially biographies. There's one kind of book you
can know I'm always reading I keep a lot of books
going at the same time. But one book I'm always
reading is a biography. I just finished the biography
of Alexander Hamilton. And I'm now reading a biography
about George Washington. And the reason is, generally biographies are
written about the greatest men and the greatest women. And the reason why they're
such great biographies is because you can learn a lot of great life
lessons from great people who have lived their
life before you. And one of the things I learn when I read a biography
is it always teaches me on the one hand on how to
succeed in handling success. But a biography
will also teach you how to either avoid failure
or how to handle failure when it comes. So today we're
gonna begin a series where we're actually
looking at the biography of a man who actually
became what many would say is the greatest
king who ever lived. He was a king that both
succeeded fantastically, but he failed miserably. He knew victory,
and he knew defeat. He climbed to the top of
the mountain of prosperity. And he fell flat on his face in the deep valley of adversity. His name was David. David lived 3000 years ago and you may already be
asking the question, "Time out, why are we
in the 21st century "studying the life of a man "who lived three millennia ago." Because at first glance
you would be asking a very good question. Because when you
first meet David there is nothing
special about David. He's a typical Jewish boy. Probably about average height, probably about average weight. He did not come
from a rich family. He did not come from a
very impressive family. He, matter of fact, he
was a little shepherd from a hick town
called Bethlehem. To put that in perspective, Bethlehem was the Mayberry
of Israel, all right? Just a no nothing hick town. How he even became king
is a really funny story. God told a priest by
the name of Samuel, that he was gonna choose a
king for Israel, a good king, the king that they should
have had to begin with. And he said, "I want you
to go to a man named Jesse, "because one of his sons
is going to be the king." So Samuel goes to Jesse's
house and he says, "Look God's told
me one of your sons "is going to be the king. "Would you mind
bringing your sons out "and let me meet them?" Well, he brings out he
parades seven sons before him. And every time one comes
before him, Samuel says, "Nope, not him. "Nope not him. "Nope, not him." He goes through all seven sons, and not one of
them make the list. I mean, they don't even
make Mr. Congeniality. They don't win the
beauty contest at all. So finally, he says, "Excuse me, do you
have any other sons?" And he said, "Well, yeah,
this is, he's a runt. "All he knows how to do
is take care of sheep. "And he's the least
impressive son that I have." He says, "Well bring him here." And lo and behold, he was
the one that God chose. Now, it would've
surprised you to learn that more has been written
about David in the Bible than any other character
outside of Jesus. I bet you didn't know that. 66 chapters in the Bible
are dedicated to David. The New Testament
talks more about David than about any other
Old Testament character. So when you put
all that together, you got to ask the question. "When God decided to inspire
the man that wrote this book, "why in the world did he put "such a hot laser
focus on David?" I mean, after all, yeah
he was a great king. But he wasn't the only
great king that Israel had. He was a shepherd. But he certainly wasn't
the only Shepherd around. He was a warrior. But he wasn't the
only great warrior that Israel had to fight. So why in the world, David? Why did God and
his sovereign will choose to put such an emphasis
on this man named David, and why should you and I kind
of get fired up and excited which I am, about studying
the life of this man? Well, before we
answer that story, let me give you a little
historical background. When I was growing up, I
used to hear preachers a lot. They would compare America to
Israel, some still do that. And there are some
things I think that you could say that
you look at the history of both countries it appears, well, maybe they do
have this in common. And yet, they
really have so much that is absolutely
different between the two. For example,
America, as you know, rebelled against Great Britain, because they didn't want a King. Israel rebelled against God,
because they did want a king. God never wanted
Israel to have a king. You said, "Well, why not?" Because for 400 years,
they had not a king, they had the king,
God was their king. And God was doing a
pretty bang up job. But they decided we don't
want you for a king. We want a King with bones
and flesh and blood, which leads to another
big difference. America did not want to
be like Great Britain, or France, or Spain, or
all the other countries of that time that
were ruled by king. They wanted to be different
from everybody else. So they said, "We
don't want a king." On the other hand,
Israel looked around and every other country
except Israel had a king. They wanted to be like
every other country. So they go to God and say, "We wanna be like
everybody else. "We want a king." Well, they got a king. And it really was the
king that they wanted his name was Saul. And Saul seemed like he
was the perfect package. He fit the bill. He was taller than all
the other Israelites. He was stronger. He was more handsome. He had the it factor and you
know, image is everything. He looked, he acted, he
taught, he walked like a king. But what they were
about to find out was that they made the same
mistake we make a lot of times when we choose our leaders. They chose image over integrity. They chose charisma
over character. They chose appearance
over substance. They chose what
was on the outside, over what was on the inside. They chose the cover
rather than the book. The problem is, God
doesn't look at people the way we look at people. God doesn't evaluate people,
the way we evaluate people. God doesn't measure people
the way we measure people. And that's why David
is so significant because I'm convinced there was one thing that
was said about David, that's never said about
anybody else in the Bible. As far as I can tell. It's never ever been
said about anybody else in the history of
the human race. And I believe this
one thing explains why David is so emphasized
in the Bible, and why we ought to
study the life of David. If you bought a copy
of God's word today, we're in a book
called 1st Samuel it's in the Old Testament. It's about nine books over
from the book of Genesis. We're in 1st Samuel chapter 13. And what we're gonna learn here is why Saul proved he was
the wrong man to be king, and why David was the right man. What's happening is
God is using Samuel to tell Saul why he's no
longer going to be king. He blew it. He had everything and
he totally fouled up. And God said, "Okay, your
kingdom is coming to an end." We're in 1st Samuel
13, verse 14. "But now your kingdom
will not endure. "The Lord has sought out a man," that he's talking about David, "The Lord has sought out
a man after his own heart, "and appointed him
ruler of his people, "because you have not
kept the Lord's command." Now I don't know about you, but
I'm gonna tell you about me. If I met a man or
a woman and I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt,
their life was so unique. Their life was so different. Their lives so stood out, that even the of the
creator universe would say, "Now there's a man
after my own heart. "There's a woman
after my own heart." I'll tell you right now, I wanna learn everything
I can about that man. I wanna learn everything
I can about that woman. I wanna know what
makes you tick. What is it about you
that is so special? You're even after
God's own heart. So all of that
raises a question. How many times have
you ever found yourself in a wrong place, or a wrong
situation, or wrong position? You may be even saying, "Hey,
that's where I am right now. "I've just, plan cane
that's my life right now. "I have wound up in a place
I never dreamed I'd wind up "and it is the wrong place." where if we're honest,
99% of the time, the reason why we wind
up in the wrong place in the wrong situation,
in the wrong position is because we were
following the wrong thing. It's on us. So here's my question as
I set up today's message, how do you think your life
would be different and better. If everyday your number one goal was to stop pursuing
success, and fame, and money, and influence and to pursue God's
own heart instead. How do you think your
life would be different if in the morning when
you got up, you said, "Lord, whatever else
happens in my life to do "no matter what else I do,
I'm gonna do everything I can "to be after your heart. "I'm gonna do everything I
can to capture your heart." Well, that leads us
to this question. So what was it about David? That God saw that said, "You
are a man after my own heart." And before I get into
this, let me just say this, you may already be saying,
"Okay, I'm checking out "I could never be David, you
don't know my background. "You don't know my story. "You don't know my past. "You don't know what's
going on with me. "There is no way I could
be after God's own heart." Sure you can. David was a man just like me. He was a person just like you. And if David can be
after God's own heart, we can be after God's own heart. The key is, what did David do? That made him a man
after God's own heart. And as you're going to see, we can do these things
every single day. Three of them, all right? Number one, walk
with God faithfully. Walk with God faithfully. Now when you're
after God's heart, you have a heart for
God that makes sense. If I've got a heart for God,
if I'm after God's heart, I have a heart for God. Now, when you have
a heart for God, you will have a walk with God. And there are two things
that have to be true if you're going to
have a walk with God, because when you walk with God, God decides who does the walk. God decides who walks with him. You don't get to
choose, he chooses. And if you're gonna walk, you gotta go in
the way he's going, you gotta walk the
away, that he walks. And in order to have
a walk with God. Two things have to be true. Number one, you've got
to love God's word. You have got to love God's word. David loved God's word. He loved God's law. If you don't read
the book of Psalms, there're 150 of them. David wrote half of those songs. And when you read all
the songs that he wrote, the number one topic
that David wrote about in all those songs, how
much he loved God's word, how much he loved God's law. And the reason why
it's so important that you love
God's word is this. When you love this book, the way you ought
to love this book, and you read this book, the way
you ought to read this book, and you study this book, the way you ought
to study this book. Here's two things
that always happen. You always will put
God where he belongs, and you'll put you
where you belong. When you read God's word,
you put God where he belongs, and you put you
where you belong. See, even though, when
David was a shepherd, he always knew who
the shepherd was. That's why he said, "The
Lord is my shepherd." When he became king. He knew how he became king. He knew who the real king was, he never let the
crown that he wore or the kingdom that he ruled or the enemies that he
conquered, go to his head, 'cause there's one thing
David never forgot. He knew that without God, he
would have never been king. He would still have
been a shepherd. He knew without God, Goliath
would've eaten him for lunch. He knew without God that
he would have never killed the bear and the lion
he talked about killing. They would have killed him. So number one, you got
to have a walk with God. You got to love God's word. Now, if you love God's word,
you will live God's word. That's the second thing. You got to live God's word. And by the way, what's more, we hear this statement
made about David, I told you it was said about
him twice in the Bible. The other time you
hear this about David is over in the book of Acts, and God himself clues us in on why David was a man
after his own heart. Listen, "After removing
Saul, he," that is God "made David their king. "God testified," now
this is what God says, "God testified concerning him. "I have found
David, son of Jesse, "a man after my own heart." And God, what was it
about David that you said, "Now there is a man
after my own heart." "He will do," what's that word? "Everything I want him to do." God says, "Anybody
that looks at me "and says the answer's
yes, before you ask. "That's a man
after my own heart. "The man who says doesn't
matter what you say "and how much it cost,
if you tell me to do it, "I'm going to do it. "That is someone
after my own heart." David's greatest
desire all of his life was to follow God's will and do everything that
God wanted him to do. Now, the next four
or five things I'm gonna say it slowly 'cause
they're all connected, okay? If you love God, you
will love God's law. Nod your head if
that makes sense. All right, if you love God, you'll love God's
law, all right. When you love God's law, God's
law will be in your heart, not your head, your heart. I love my wife, Teresa love her more than anybody
else on this planet. I don't carry Teresa
just right in my head. I carry Teresa
around in my heart. Now, when God's law
is in your heart, his love will
capture your heart. I carry Teresa in my heart
all the time and you know why? Because her love has
captured my heart. And when God's love
captures your heart, you will want to live out God's
law that is in your heart. So it's all connected together. And by the way, that's
exactly what David said. David wrote this later on. He said, "I desire to do
your will, my God," why? "Your law is within my heart." Let me tell you what that means. When you have a heart for God, and you're after
God's own heart, then what burdens
God will burden you. And what bothers
God will bother you, and what delights
God will delight you, and what excites
God will excite you, and what's important to God
will be important to you. See this is something and I've
preached this for 40 years, and I don't think
people get it yet. This book is not just
a book to be read. It's not just a book
to be explained. It's not just a book
to be memorized. It's not even just a
book to be believed. This is a book to be obeyed. This book will never come alive. It will never mean to you what it ought to you,
until you take all of it that applies to you,
and you live it out. That's what this
book is all about. By the way, I this
first service. Do we have any former
Marines in the building? Any former, oh, way back
here, way back there. Okay, there's a marine, there's two or three,
yeah, three or four of you. First of all to all
you service men, thanks for serving the country. Thank you very much. But you wonderful
patriots who are Marines, you'll appreciate this story. I was reading a
book not long ago about how Marines
train their soldiers. And I was reading
about, true story. There was this young recruit, and he really needed
to be in the Marines. He was kind of a rebellious. He didn't like authority. He didn't like rules. And so he joined the Marines. And there was this new... And he didn't
understand the rationale behind the way he
was being trained. And he had his particular
drill instructor that was very hard on him. And he always insisted he didn't do just
the big things right. He did even the
little things right. So for example, the first time
they went to the mess hall to have lunch. He got all of his
group together. And he said, "Now men, this
is how you hold a tray. "You put your right hand
on the bottom like this, "you put your left hand
on the top like this, "and you've hold the
tray against your chest." Well, this guy's saying,
"Dude it's a tray "I mean, why does it matter
whether I hold it this way or I hold it with one
hand, what does it matter?" So one day sure enough,
he goes in he forgets he just kinda picks up the tray like you I pick up the tray, the drill instructor saw him
told him to put the tray down, told him to drop to
his own his belly, told him to do 50 pushups and he said "Now,
you're gonna walk around "the rest of the day holding
a tray, the way I told you." And the guy was just
so frustrated he says, "I don't understand,
I didn't come here "to learn how to hold a tray. "I came here to be a
Marine, why does it matter?" But later on when he was
issued his first weapon and his first gun. They were telling them
this is important. This is how you hold a
gun when you're fighting. This is how you hold a
gun when you're running. This is how you hold a gun when you're jumping
into a foxhole, how do you think he
was taught to hold it? Just like he held the tray, right hand on the bottom,
left hand on the top, close to his chest, and
all of a sudden he realized that little detail could
one day save his life. See, when you're
after God's heart, you wanna do whatever
God tells you to do, whether it's a big thing
like killing a giant, or it's a little thing
like taking care of a lamb. You just say, "Lord,
what you want me to do "I am going to do it." That's what David did. So you walk with God,
faithfully all right? Number two, you wait
on God, patiently. You wait on God, patiently. Some of you need to hear this. One of the marks of a person
who's after God's own heart, and they really
captured God's heart and God's captured their heart. They're willing to
wait on the Lord. See you're not
only willing to do whatever God wants you to
do, that's just half of it. You're willing to do it only
when he wants you to do it. See Saul, he made
two big mistakes. And when he made
these two mistakes, God said, "Okay,
that's the last straw "you're out of chances,
you're out of luck. "I'm done with you,
your kingdom is over." He not only did something that God expressly
told him not to do. He did it because he wasn't
willing to wait on God to do it. So let me kinda set this up. Here's the situation. The Israelites were
about to go out to battle to the Philistines and
I mean the Philistines they're gonna throw everything but the kitchen sink
to the Israelites. The Philistines were,
they were mortal enemies of the Israelites. Lind of like Bulldogs
and Gators, okay? They were they were
just mortal enemies. You know, I'm gonna get that in, football season started
you know that right? So I had ate a lot of fried
chicken last night too but listen. So you've got these
mortal enemies, right? You've got you've
got the Philistines and you've got Israel. And it's gonna be
winner take all. 3000 chariots, 6000 charioteers, they've got more soldiers than you could count on
your fingers and toes. The Israelites are
scared to death. Saul's about to lead
them into battle. He says, "Man, we
really need God's help "before we go into battle." Well, it was the job
of Samuel the priest to offer up the sacrifice
and offer the burnt offerings to make sure their
sins were forgiven. They were right with God, and God would go and
do battle with them. I mean, and the rules
were very plain. When Saul became king. He said, "Saul, now
you're the king. "You've got one job,
you rule the kingdom, that's your job." Samuel is the priest. It's his job to
offer the sacrifice and the burnt offering. So Saul, he's the priest. You're the king. You rule the kingdom. He offers up the
burnt sacrifice, everybody got that background. So we read these words
beginning in verse eight. "He," that is Saul,
"Waited seven days. "The time sent by Samuel,"
Samuel evidently said, "Be patient, I'll
be there in a week "and I'll take your business." "But Samuel did
not come to Gilgal "and Saul's men
began to scatter. "So he said, bring
me the burnt offering "and the fellowship offerings, "and Saul offered up
the bird offering. "Just as he finished
making the offering, "Samuel arrived and Saul
went out to greet him. "What have you done? "Asked Samuel, Saul replied, "when I saw that the
men were scattering "and that you did not come "at the set time
and the Philistines "were assembling it Mikmash, "I thought, now the Philistines "will come down
against me at Gilgal "and I have not sought
the Lord's favor. "So I felt compelled to
offer the burnt offering. "You have done a foolish
thing Samuel said, "you have not kept the command
the Lord your God gave you "if you had, he would have
established your kingdom "over Israel for all time. "But now your kingdom
will not endure. "The Lord has sought out
a man after his own heart "and appointed him
ruler of his people "because you have not
kept the Lord's command." Now notice some of us
right now you're thinking, "I don't get it. "I don't understand
what the big deal is." Okay, so Saul fires
up the Big Green Egg, and barbecues the meat
before the priest did. What's the big deal? Why is God so upset with that? Here's why God
gets upset at that. When you refuse to wait on God, what you're really saying
is you don't trust God. When you refuse to wait on
God, what you're saying is, you really don't trust God. When you refuse to wait on God. What you're saying is, you know, "I just don't believe you're gonna come
through this time. "I think you've gone
asleep at the wheel. "I don't think you're gonna
do what you said you would do. "I don't think you're going
to keep your promise." And anytime you don't trust God, you may not think it's
a big deal to you. Anytime you question his
character, his integrity, his truthfulness, it's
a big deal to him. How many times have people
married the wrong person? Because they wouldn't wait on
God to bring the right person. How many times has someone
taken the wrong job for the wrong reason. Because they
wouldn't wait for God to open up the right
job at the right time. How many times has someone tried to rig the system or
manipulate the circumstances rather than wait on
God to work things out? Listen, I wanna give
you a thought right now that I hope you'll
really just superglue it. I hope you'll Velcro
it to your heart, okay? When you take life
into your own hands, you take God's
hands off your life. When you take your life
into your own hands, you take God's
hands off your life. See if what Saul did came
into a courtroom today, would it be declared illegal? No, it wouldn't be
declared unethical. You say, "Well if
it wasn't illegal and it wasn't an ethical,
why was it so wrong?" Because it was so bad. It was ungodly. It was just ungodly. What Saul did when he put that
meat on that Big Green Egg. Here's what Saul did. He signed his own
personal declaration of independence from God. He said, "You know
what? I don't need you. "I can handle things
myself, thank you very much. "I think I'll just take matters "into my own hand." David on the other hand,
totally different attitude. Here's what David said,
"In you, Lord my God, "I put my trust. "In Lord God, I put my trust." See, David proved
he trusted God, you know how he proved it? He waited on God. Say okay, "What do you mean?" Let's play the tape back. God brings Samuel to Jesse. Jesse brings David
out to Samuel. Samuel looks at David, and
Samuel says, "You're the one. "You're the anointed one. "You're gonna be king." He even pours all over his head, anoints him said, "You're
gonna be the king." Question, so did David
would come king that day? Nope, the next week? No, the next month? No, the next decade? No, 15 years, David waited. Oh, and by the way, not
easy years, hard years. He spent 15 years tending sheep on the back side of the desert. He spent all those 15 years fighting a giant that
nobody else would fight. He spent 15 years
being put on a hit list by the king he was
going to replace. He's spent those 15 years
running for his life from both the king that
was trying to kill him and all those enemies he made when he killed their giant. So 15 years, he's
hiding in caves. He's hiding behind rocks. He even one time
pretends to be crazy, so the Philistines
won't kill him. But all that time, he said,
"God, I put my trust in you. "I'm going to be king. "I don't know when, I don't
know where, I don't know how. "I don't even know for how long "I may only be king for a day. "But there's one thing I know, "you said I was
going to be king. "I'm going to be king. "And I'm going to wait on you. "Because no one who
ever waits on you ever is put to shame." Totally different attitude
than what Saul had. So here's my question. Are you after God's own heart? Because one of the
ways you'll know it is number one, yeah, I'm
walking faithfully with God. I love his word and I'm
living his word out. Number two, I'm waiting
patiently on the Lord. I get impatient sometimes I will take matters
in my own hand. But I'm not going to do it. I'm going to wait on God. And then there's one last thing. And that is you witness
to God truthfully. Now let me tell you
what I mean by that. Let's go back to Saul
for a moment, okay? He's cooking the meat
on the Big Green Egg Samuel comes up he
smells the meat. He looks he says, "What in
the world are you doing?" So Saul's caught, hand in
the cookie jar, red handed. I mean, he is guilty
flat out disobeyed God. And it wasn't anybody's
fault but his own, okay. So Samuel just says,
"What are you doing?" Giving Samuel a more
great opportunity. Look, just tell the truth
dude, just come clean. Now look what Saul does. "What have you done? "Asked Samuel, Saul replied, "when I saw that," watch this. "The men were scattering," excuse number one. "And that you," you're the guy. "You didn't come at the set
time," excuse number two. "And that the Philistines,"
excuse number three, "We're assembling it Mikmash. "I thought now the Philistines
will come down against me "at Gilgal and I have not
sought the Lord's favor. "So I felt compelled,"
I just had to do it, the devil made me
do it, had to do it. "So I felt compelled to
offer the burnt offering." And let's don't
be too hard on him 'cause he did what we all do when the chips are down and
our backs are against the wall. We start looking for people
to throw under the bus. We start looking for excuses. Put the blame on somebody else. Wasn't my fault. On the other hand, here's
what we're told about David. "He chose David his
servant," that is God. "And took him from
the sheep pens "from tending the
sheep he brought him "to be the shepherd
of his people "Jacob, of Israel,
his inheritance. "And David shepherded them,"
this one of my favorite words, "with integrity of heart, "with skillful
hands, he led them." I want you to hear that
little magic word integrity. I taught my boys growing up. I say to them still today, "If you don't have
integrity, you got nothing." I don't care what else
you've got going for you. If you don't have integrity,
you don't have anything. That word integrity
means complete. It means whole,
it means innocent. Let me tell you what integrity
is you ready for this? Integrity is what you are
when nobody else is looking. That's what integrity is. David was a man of integrity, it's telling the truth when
everybody else is telling a lie. And listen, let me just
help everybody here with something 'cause I've
tried this, it won't work. So I'm telling you right now, I'm telling you don't
even think about it. You can't fake it with God. You can't fake it with God. When you're after
God's own heart, you always witness
to God truthfully. So in other words,
when you fall, you don't blame somebody
else for tripping you When you take the wrong road, you don't blame somebody
else for changing the sign. When you mess up, you
don't blame somebody else for creating the mess. If you ever testified
in a court of law, you have to do it
under oath right? You swear to tell the
truth, the whole truth and nothing but the
truth, so help you God. Can I tell you something? When it comes to God,
you're always under oath. This doesn't work with God. This doesn't work with God. You're always under oath. And God says, "Look,
when you open your mouth if you're gonna be a
man after my own heart or woman after my own
heart, you tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but
the truth, so help you God." Now, what is the
point of the story? Well, what is the point is we start this fantastic
study of the life of David, what is this story all about? All right, listen, listen. God chooses who he uses. And he starts with the heart. God chooses who he uses. And he starts with the heart. Now here's where I wanna talk to some of you
individually right now. 'Cause I know some
of your thinking you're saying, "I
can't be David." I mean, this is so
far out of my league. This is so far
above my pay grade. There is no way, if you knew me, if you knew what I'd
done in the past, if you knew what
I did last night, you wouldn't dare
look at me and say, "Oh, you can be someone
after God's own heart." Here's what you
don't understand. God's not looking
for a perfect heart. He's looking for a pure heart. He's not looking for a perfect. He's looking for a pure heart. You know, there's an old saying, you ladies will remember this, that the way to a man's heart
is through his stomach, right? That may be true. The way that God's heart
is through his son. The way to God's heart
is through his son. God is willing to make a king out of any man and a
queen out of any woman who will trust
the king of kings, the Lord Jesus as their
savior, and as their master, when they say to the
God that created them, "I'm gonna love
your son so much. "You can't help but love me. "I'm gonna give Jesus my heart. "So I'll be someone
after your heart." Because God always
focuses on the heart. And he wants us to
focus on his heart. Now, trust me when
I tell you this, I don't lie, all right? So I want you to put your
pens and pencils down and turn off your iPads
and shuts your phone down for just a minute. I want you to look up here, everybody turn to your neighbor and say "Listen up,"
do it right now, "listen up." All right, listen up I promise you this
is worth coming for. It's one of the
sweetest best stories, true story I've ever come, I've never told this
story till today. Took place many years
ago, in New York City, it was six minutes till six
it was 5:54 in New York City, and a soldier by the
name of John Blandford was standing in Grand
Central Station. His heart was racing,
his palms were sweaty, his blood pressure was up. He was as nervous as a cat. Because he's about
to meet the woman who had captured his heart. Now the amazing thing is
he had never seen her. He had never spoken to her. He had no idea what
she looked like at all. The way he even came
across this woman was he was reading a book that he
had checked out of a library, and it was littered
in the margin with personal notes that
were better than the book. And those notes seized his heart and when he would read
these lady's words, he'd say, "This
lady's fantastic, "I've never heard
anybody think like this "and right like this. "I've just got to
meet this woman. "I've got to meet her." So he happened to find his
name on the book plate, her name was Hollis Manail. So he began to
search and he found, he just found her so attractive. Just like just like
magnet drawing iron. So he finally found her address and he wrote her and
he told her about.. He says, "Listen I read this
book and I read your notes "and you just really
captured my heart. "And and I'd love to meet you." Well, for the next 13
months, they corresponded they wrote each
other back and forth. And so finally, one day he
wrote her a letter and he said, "Would you please send me
a photograph of yourself?" Well, she wrote him
back and she said, "No, I won't. "I'm not gonna send
you a photograph." And here's what she said. She said, "If you're feeling
for me has any reality "and true basis. "What I look like won't matter. "When you come to New York, "you'll see me then and
you can make your decision "about pursuing me or not." Now remember, both of
us are free to stop or continue going after
that, whichever we choose, and there will be
no hard feelings. So they had agreed that
she would wear a red lapel on her rose as a way
of recognizing her, and that he would be
carrying the book in his hand that had introduced
her to him in his hand. So it's one minute till six. He's so nervous. He's so excited. He can't wait. And all of a sudden,
this beautiful woman starts moving toward him, and I mean his heart
leaped out of his uniform. She was young, slender,
blonde, blue eyes just drop dead gorgeous. But she wasn't
wearing a red rose. And she walked up to him
and smiled provocatively and she said, "Going
my way soldier?" He took one step closer, and as he took one step closer out of the corner of his
eye over her shoulder. He noticed Hollis Manail just a few feet behind
this beautiful lady. And she was wearing a red rose. To put it tactfully. Not gonna win Miss America. A much older lady,
thin gray hair tied up in a bun
behind her head. Short, not really physically
attractive to him at all. And this beautiful
lady walked away and Blandford said, "I felt like I was
being just torn in two." He said, "On the one hand, I
wanted to follow this beauty "and the most beautiful
woman I've ever seen." And he said, "She just
captured my eyes." And yet it was the words
of this unattractive, plain looking lady, that
had just captured his heart. So he swallowed hard and he gripped the book till
his knuckles were white. And he walked up to her
thinking to himself, "This will never be
anything romantic, "but I've just got to
get to know this woman." He took a deep breath and he kind of squared
his shoulders back and he held out the
book and he said, "I'm Lieutenant John Blanford "and you're Ms. Manail. "I'm so glad to meet you "and I would just love
to take you to dinner." The woman smiled, she said, "Son, I don't know
what this is all about. "But the young lady
that just went by you "begged me to wear
this rose on my coat. "And she said, if you asked
me to go out with you, "I should tell you that
she's waiting for you "in that restaurant
across the street. "She said, it was a
test of your heart." I have never seen Jesus. I don't really know
what he looks like. I don't really know
what he sounds like. I've never felt him and
I've never touched him. But as a nine year old boy,
his words captured my heart. And I love him like I don't
look anybody or anything. And I'm absolutely convinced. When my heavenly father, the creator of this world
looks down and he says, "So, all the things
this world has to offer, "that you can touch and feel
and see and is so attractive. "So you turned all of
that away to love my son, "whom you've never seen." Yes, Lord, I have. "You are after my own heart." - We are so glad
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Digital Channel. And we hope you enjoyed
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here next time for another episode of Touching Lives with
Dr. James Merritt. - [Narrator] Touching lives,
teaching people everywhere who Jesus is and
why they need him. This program is sponsored
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