Recently I saw this picture on one of my friend’s facebook page, I told him that I was going to use it and he said that he had gotten it from someone else. I recently found out that the picture originated from Sye TenBruggencate. I really liked this picture and the quote on it by Brian Murray, “Salvation is not for a sick man who needs a doctor, but a dead man who needs a miracle.” I decided to use the picture as the wall paper on my facebook page because the picture and the statement fit me for three main reasons and I would like to discuss those here. I am going to begin with the number 3 reason and end with the number 1 reason this picture fits me.
3. The number 3 reason this picture is such a fit for me is that I am by profession a Cardiovascular Intensive Care Registered Nurse and have been so for fifteen years now. It would be safe to say that I have done actual physical C.P.R. on a lot of people, so many that I have no idea how many. When a person goes into Cardio/Pulmonary arrest there is nothing that they can do to revive themselves, if left to them they are dead. C.P.R. done correctly delivers oxygenated blood to the brain & heart. The goal in C.P.R. is to inject into the vascular system a Vaso-active drug like Epinephrine or Vasopressin, the C.P.R. acts as a pump to get the blood containing the drug to circulate through the body and back to the heart, the drug once circulated to the heart excites the cardiac tissue and the heart begins to beat. The heart then takes over as the pump and C.P.R. is stopped, most times a continues infusion of a vaso-active drug is required to keep the heart beating and the blood pressure up and circulating until such time as the cause of the Cardio/Pulmonary arrest is reversed. Sometimes this works and sometimes it does not.
2. The number 2 reason this picture is such a fit for me is that I am an Evangelist. I spend much time preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. I pass out gospel tracts to almost everyone I meet and talk with people about the gospel. I currently go out in my community at least once a week, sometimes on a street corner with a cross that says “Are You Ready”, sometimes reading scripture in public out loud and preaching the gospel in open-air. I’ve also got an evangelism partner named Seth Capps, we go out to festivals and events; publically reading scripture, preaching the gospel in open-air, passing out tracts, and talking with people. Preaching the gospel is a lot like doing C.P.R. on a dead man, unless the Holy Spirit gives Him life the Word of God is rejected or even reviled. The goal in preaching the gospel is that the Holy Spirit will bring to life a dead man in hearing the gospel preached. Like in the above C.P.R. scenario the preaching of the gospel is somewhat like doing C.P.R. but what actually brings someone to life is the Holy Spirit reaching the heart, causing a dead heart (spirit) to come to life. Every time I preach the gospel my hope is he or she that God has elected for Eternal life will hear the gospel and by the grace of God the Spirit of God will give life, causing them to repent of their sins and by faith alone receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
1. The number 1 reason this picture fits me is that I was dead in my sins and by the grace of God alone He gave me life. I was dead in my sins and there was nothing I could do to revive myself. Often times I was aware that I was sinning, the law of God is written on the heart of every man, but I would try by my own effort to stop sinning and be right back committing the same sins that I loved over and over again. If you asked me I would even have told you that I believed in Jesus Christ and thought myself to be a Christian, but the problem was that I did not trust in Him as Lord and as Savior nor did I even know what that really meant. If someone were to have used those words I probably would have affirmed them and thought that I knew what they meant, but I could not because I was dead. “But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.” (1 Corinthians 2:14) By the grace of God I heard the law and the gospel preached, I was crushed I was broken I knew that I had sinned against a Holy, Righteous, and Just God and what I deserved for my sins was eternal separation from God in Hell, I knew that all of my good deeds were rout and that there was nothing I could do to save myself and then I looked unto Jesus my Lord and my Savior and I knew that He had paid the price for my sins in full. I had repented of my sins and trusted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, he took out my heart of stone and gave me a heart of flesh; I was born again. It was at that moment when I gave up all hope of saving myself that God gave me His Spirit of faith in the Holy One of God, His Son Jesus Christ. I was the dead man’s bones lying on his back in the picture; a servant of God did C.P.R on me, he preached the law and the gospel, the Spirit of Faith came upon me and gave me life so that I could hear for the first time. I then repented and believed (trusted) in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Do you understand what I am saying? It wasn’t me who did this, it was God, He saved me.
Mike Peek a slave of Jesus Christ
(Here is Sye TenBruggencate’s website, just click on his name you will be glad that you did he has some really neat things on it.)
