What Kind of Detergent Do You Use? (Restoration)

This is a very easy trick to do and its message is very powerful.  Once again, I would classify this one as another restoration story.  I would practice this at least one time to check the disappearing time on different types of cloth that the shirt is made of.  You also have to make a purchase at a magic store.  Buy a bottle of disappearing ink.  The last bottle I bought was about $4.  Alright, once you have your bottle of ink and a shirt, you'll need one more thing and that is a solid red towel or piece of cloth.  Here's the story:

Hey you guys, tell me something.  Have you ever been outside playing in new or clean clothes when you were warned not to?  Of course you have.  Any why were you warned not to play in your good clothes?  That's right, so you wouldn't get them dirty.  And what happened when you got grass stains or mud or some other kind of stain on them?  Well, probably your got a mini sermon from your mother about not following her directions right?  But what eventually happened to the clothes?  That's right, they had to be washed.  And what did your mother put in the washing machine to help get them as clean as new?  Right, detergents or bleach.

Do this look familiar?  This is Clorox.  It's used especially on white clothes.  In fact, it's so powerful that it will take the color out of colored clothes.  So you have to be very careful when using it.  And hopefully after washing your dirty clothes in detergents and bleaches your clothes will look as clean and as bright as they did before you got them dirty.

Now you may be wondering, where is he going with this story?  Well I have a very important question for you today?  Do you know what is the most powerful cleansing agent in the world?  Well it's not a WHAT but rather it's a WHO.  And that Who is Jesus Christ.

Let me explain what I'm talking about.  Let's pretend that this shirt that I have on is a person's soul.  It's all sparkling clean and fresh and new.  But as we grow something happens to it.  It becomes dirty - not with grass stains and grease and grime though.  But it becomes dirty with SIN.  Sins are those things that we do that displease and hurt God.  And boys and girls over a period of a lifetime, a person's soul can become quite filthy - like this.  (POUR DISAPPEARING INK ONTO MY SHIRT.)

(PLACE RED CLOTH OVER ME)

What a mess I've made of my beautiful clean sour and life.
* Hey I've got an idea.  I'm going to clean it up all by myself.
* I'm going to read some self help books and listen to some self improvement tapes and videos.
* I'm going to go to commune with nature.
* I'm going to get involved with yoga.
* I'm going to meditate.
* I may even become a member of a cult.
* Can you think of any other ways that a person can try to get rid of their own sins?
* They may just decide to forget them all together and they'll go away by themselves.
* But guess what?  That won't happen and none of these things I mentioned will get rid of the SIN stains.  They'll only get worse.  There's only one thing that I can do to get rid of these SINS and that's by asking Jesus into my heart as Lord and Savior.  And boys and girls once I do that He covers e with the blood that was shed for me on Calvary when He was hanging on the cross.  He gave His life so that I might be washed of my SINS.  That's why I put on this red cloth.  This represents the blood of Christ that was shed for me.

And an interesting thing happens.  Once Jesus moves into my heart and soul, He moves the SIN out - just like that.  Now I have a new start - a new life and a new beginning.  That's what I call a miracle.
REMOVE THE RED CLOTH.  Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool."

But you may say, "Wait a minute, I still see a little something."  Well what you see is actually the dampness of the shirt.  The stain is completely gone.  But that makes me think that sometimes even though God has cleansed us of our sins, we are still left with the scars that they have caused.

Let's pray.