First United Methodist Church of Port St. Joe



	Messages from Mac BAILOUT! Unless you live in a cave, you have heard all about the latest "bailout" by the government on investment banks. The amount was $700,000,000,000.00! (I think it’s important to look at all of those zeros!) I’m not even sure how much money that is. I do know that if you spent $750.00 every second it would take you thirty-two years to spend that much money. This has been called this the largest "bailout" in history. However, I disagree! I looked up "bailout" in the dictionary. There are actually two definitions: one is the opposite of the other. The first definition is "to give up or abandon something" while the second definition is "an instance of coming to the rescue." I think I like the second one best. The biggest "bailout" in all of history has nothing to do with money, but with our sin. The most quoted verse in the Bible is John 3:16. "For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." This was a "bailout" that you can’t put a price on. I’m so glad that Jesus chose to "rescue" us instead of "abandoning" us because he could have done either one. When Jesus was in the garden praying to the Father, He was so stressed that He actually sweat "drops of blood." The clinical term for this is "hematohidrosis." Around the sweat glands, there are multiple blood vessels in a net-like form. Under the pressure of great stress, the vessels constrict. As the anxiety passes, the blood vessels dilate to the point of rupture and the blood goes into the sweat glands. As the sweat glands are producing a lot of sweat, it pushes the blood to the surface - coming out as droplets of blood mixed with sweat. Even while Jesus was under that much stress and agony, he still He chose to rescue us instead of abandoning us. I don’t know about you, but it’s easier to wrap my mind around 700 billion dollars that it is the price that Jesus paid for my sins. The 2009 budget for the United States is $310,000,000,000,000.00. The cost of the war in Iraq for 2008 is almost $600,000,000,000.00 with the cost of the "bailout" for the financial institutions at a whopping $750,000,000,000.00. The price Jesus paid for your sins... priceless! I hope to see you this Sunday and every Sunday at the place where we will never be abandoned! Because of Him, Mac Listen to Mac's most recent message now! Previous message archives: -Message 1 -Message 2 -Message 3 -Message 4