AN IMMENSE STORY

AN IMMENSE STORY

Sunday, January 18, 2015

John [MKJV] 10:14-15; 15:12-14 I am the Good Shepherd, and I know those that are Mine, and I am known by those who are Mine. Even as the Father knows Me, I also know the Father. And I lay down My life for the sheep. … This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. You are My friends if you do whatever I command you.

1John [MKJV] 3:18-21 My children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. And in this we shall know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him, that if our heart accuses us, God is greater than our heart and knows all things. Beloved, if our heart does not accuse us, we have confidence toward God.

  How many have seen the movie TITANIC? A considerable number have viewed it multiple times. My first exposure to the story was when quite young reading nonfiction book at the Enoch Pratt Free Library in Hamilton, Baltimore, Maryland. Later I read more nonfiction and fictional accounts. Plus, growing up, the Titanic, Custer’s Last Stand, USA Civil War, and other such historical events were common topics of discussion and debate.

  TITANIC is quite the tale of monumental pride, impatience, greed, wretched disaster, poignancy, enduring romance and sacrifice. Beyond what was scripted it is also tale of Christ-like love.

  On May 29, 1872, John Harper was born in a Scotland village. Raised in a Christian family, he trusted Jesus as personal Savior at age 14 and was preacher at 18, supporting himself by doing manual labor.

  At age 25 he was made pastor of the 25 member Paisley Road Baptist Church in Glasgow. With his leadership and impassioned Bible preaching the church grew to 500. During his time there as pastor his wife died, leaving him to care for their young daughter.

  Recognized as a blessing, he was invited to preach at Moody Church in Chicago, Illinois, USA, investing 3 months there doing so. Experiencing revival, they asked him to later return. Pastor Harper arranged for himself, 6 year old daughter Annie Jessie and niece Jessie W. Leitch to travel to America on the passenger liner Lusitania, then felt directed by God to leave a week later on a new trans-Atlantic liner, the Titanic.

  As the “unsinkable” Titanic began sinking April 14, 1912, he wrapped his daughter in a blanket and saw to it that she and his niece were safe in a lifeboat.

  Harper then gave his lifejacket to another passenger. One survivor distinctly remembers him shouting “Women, children, and the unsaved into the lifeboats!” He then ran the decks pleading with people to turn to Christ and called upon the ship’s orchestra to play “Nearer, My God, To Thee”.

  Several times he gathered a group, and “with holy joy” as his countenance was described, prayed for them.

  Later, survivors testified that as the Titanic went low Harper jumped overboard and swimming to all he could he asked “Are you saved?” sharing the gospel focusing on Acts 16:31.

  John Harper was 39 years of age when the frigid water drained his physical life away.

  Dear brethren in Christ, and what of us as we sit high and dry? Do we see this world as Titanic with people all around us dying without God’s salvation?   EBB4