Camel Bag Time - (Object Lesson)

Nathan: If you're between the ages of seven and seventeen stay standing. Who was born in the month of January? That young man back there, come on; you're it. For those of you who don't know what's going on, we call this our camel bag. I bought it in Egypt 33 years ago. It's made out of camel leather. And right now this young man is going to take a look in the bag and tell you what's in it. What's your first name?

Kevin: Kevin.

Nathan: Kevin, take a look now. You can hold it open; I don't have enough hands, just hold it open, and tell everybody what you see.

Kevin: (Kevin did not say anything, he just looked at the objects that were in the camel bag.).

Nathan: Is there anything in the bag?

Kevin: Yea.

Nathan: Is it full?

Kevin: Yea.

Nathan: Of what?

Kevin: It looks like a snake right there.

Nathan: A snake. Do you think I would keep a snake in the bag? Pull it out. Let me see. Woops, be careful he might bite you. Who in the Bible was called a serpent in the Garden of Eden?

Kevin: Satan.

Nathan: Right! He's getting friendly already. I better get rid of him. Let's put that fella back in there. I let him be my watch guard, you know, keep him in the bag so nobody gets in my bag. But we do have a lesson about him, right now, we don't want to do that we want to talk about something else. You see, there are things in there that you cannot identify like that for example, you don't know what that is so we'll take that out and talk about it. I may have to get this little plastic tube open so that I can get the real thing out that I want. Now, do you see that?

Kevin: Yea.

Nathan: That is a bean, round bean, but it has a white stopper because the bean is hollow. Do you see that?

Kevin: Yea.

Nathan: And the reason it has a stopper is to keep the elephants from getting out. Do you believe that?

Kevin: No. (The people in the audience laughed. It was funny.).

Nathan: Kevin, that is a bean and inside there are 25 elephants. If I opened that stopper they would get out. So I must be very careful not to let them out. Do you believe that?

Kevin: No.

Nathan: Kevin, in India, they're men who carve tiny, tiny elephants to put in beans to sell to the tourists and they're in that bean, 25 of them.

Kevin: No.

Nathan: Kevin, what would I have to do to prove it to you?

Kevin: Open it up.

Nathan: That's what I thought you would say. But if I did, and one of these elephants dropped off my hand and got down on that rug, that would be the end of him. I would never get him, too tiny, and I don't want to lose any of my elephants. I'm sorry, but I can't open it. I always get a little nervous myself, least those elephants would get out. I feel better when I get it (the bean) back in that plastic tube. Sorry about that Kevin, but some people out there don't believe me either. And the other people are going to worry now all night. They are going to lie awake and think while they should be sleeping and resting: What was that all about? Were there any elephants in that or weren't there? So, what should we do to prove to them that there are really elephants in there?

Kevin: Open it.

Nathan: You said it again. I can't open it, but Kevin take a look. Just hold it. I don't have my glasses on. You turn it the right way so that you can identify the little white speck that's in the middle of that black circle of paper. What is that little white thing?

Kevin: An elephant.

Nathan: Say it real loud.

Kevin: An elephant.

Nathan: A what?

Kevin: An elephant.

Nathan: What do you know it's an elephant?

Kevin: Because I can tell it's an elephant.

Nathan: How do you identify it? Do you see a bushy tail?

Kevin: No.

Nathan: What does an elephant have that tells you it's an elephant?

Kevin: A trunk.

Nathan: Right! And can you see the trunk?

Kevin: Yea.

Nathan: And the shape of the elephant?

Kevin: Yea.

Nathan: It's an elephant, is it?

Kevin: Yea.

Nathan: Right. Now you believe it?

Kevin: Yea.

Nathan: And there are 25 in that bean. Do you believe it?

Kevin: Yea.

Nathan: Okay. I know they're there because I counted them. I took them out and dumped them on the kitchen table after I got it. And I counted them there were 26. And I wanted to keep one of them out to do this (place it inside the middle of that black circle of paper). I put 25 back in. I wanted to, but I couldn't figure out how to get them back in, couldn't chase them in. And the tweezers didn't work. They are too tiny. So I used an old fashion invention.

(Nathan simulated licking his finger and pressing it gently on the tiny elephant to pick it up and place it back in the tiny little bean. The audience began to laugh.).

Nathan continued: A wet finger on top of a little elephant on the kitchen table and he'll stick on the finger. Them I took the bean and put my finger on top and scraped him off he dropped in and I went after two. I counted 25 of them. I put them in and I haven't had them out since. But they're there. I know they're there, and Kevin knows it now too. And anybody out there who doesn't believe, well, you ask Kevin. But look here, I laminate it with plastic, a black circle of paper, in between the two sheets of plastic and on that black paper I laid one of the little elephants, just a tiny, tiny little creature. Now I'm glad I don't have the job of carving them. But, there are old men in India who use powerful magnifying glasses and they carve those tiny elephants, put them in beans to sell them to tourists. And now Kevin believes it because he saw it.

You know, some people say, "I don't believe there's a city out there in space with golden streets. I wouldn't believe that unless I saw it." Well, unfortunately, they will never see it, because you can only see that place if you believe God. If you say, "God, I don't believe you", He is not going to take you there to see it. Those people who don't believe Him will never get there. Now I don't blame Kevin for not quite trusting me because I do play tricks and the kids know that. And so I don't feel bad if they aren't quite sure of what I'm going to do. But let me tell you, God doesn't play any tricks. And when Jesus said, Jesus is God, "I go to prepare a place for you." "And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive (take) you unto Myself; that where I am, there you maybe also." (John 14: 2 - 3), when He said that you can trust Him. "I go to prepare a place..." (John 14: 2). He is preparing that place and one of these days He is going to take us to live with Him, but you've got to believe Him. This is a lesson in faith tonight. Now, you're doing so well there Kevin we'll just go on with another thing here that I want to show you. Have you ever seen a thing like that? Do you know what I have?

Kevin: It looks like a little chart.

Nathan: First of all you tell me what that book is.

Kevin: The Bible.

Nathan: That's what I preach from all the time. And that book has 773,746 words in it. And if I told you that this is the same as that, I got the same thing in each hand, would you believe it?

Kevin: No.

Nathan: Let me try it again, Kevin. There is a company called "National Cash-register Company", one of the big companies of the world its headquarters located in Dayton, Ohio. I was preaching in Dayton and a man said, "I want you to come over to the plant, I want to show you something." I went over there and he gave me that. That is a Bible. It's called, "microfilm." Now you know what it is. Right?

Kevin: Yea.

Nathan: Do you believe it now?

Kevin: Yea.

Nathan: Hold it. He told me they took the Bible, twelve hundred and forty pages, they opened it up to each page and took a picture of every page and then reduced the picture 62,000 times until each page, instead of being that big, look at it now, is one tiny, tiny, tiny square dot. And if I had a magnify glass of 100 power I, which I used to carry in my bag but it's too heavy, too bulky, I don't have it anymore. I would slip that in it now and look up to the light and I could read to you any verse in the Bible. They're all on there. Do you believe that?

Kevin: Yea.

Nathan: Great! All right! It's a lesson in faith. Does it seem possible you can take a little piece of plastic about an inch square and put on it three quarters of a million words? Every page in the Bible, every sentence, every word, every punctuation mark, every footnote, everything. It's all on there, the world's tiniest Bible. Now, if men can take a book like that and with the laws of God because God made those laws which they use in reducing things and then blowing them up again and reading them. If men can do that, what can God do in the way of building a city and preparing a home for those who love Him? In the Bible, Kevin, we read about Jesus having been raised from the dead, showing Himself alive to some of the people including some of the disciples. And Thomas hadn't seen Him, but some of the others disciples had. And then, when the other disciples met Thomas, they said, "Thomas we saw the Lord, He's alive." And Thomas said what?

Kevin: I don't believe you.

Nathan: Right. And they (the disciples) said, "Oh yes we did, we saw Him (Jesus)." And Thomas said,...

Kevin: No you didn't.

Nathan: And they (the disciples) said, "Thomas, we saw the Lord." And Thomas said, "I won't believe it unless I could...

Kevin: See Him."

Nathan: And Jesus knew what he (Thomas) said. And then one day they (the disciples) were in the upper room, the doors were all closed, Jesus came through the walls, didn't leave a hole. Some people have trouble with that. They shouldn't. The same Jesus who did that Himself made the sun, who made the rays of the sun to shine 93 million miles from the sun to planet earth and go right through your glass window and not leave any holes. And they believe that, but they don't believe the God (Jesus) who made the sunshine, who went thru the wall without leaving any holes. That's another story. Jesus appeared to them in the upper room, all the disciples were together, Thomas was there and Jesus just walked up to Thomas and said, "Thomas, reach hither thy hand. Touch the nail prints in My hand, touch the scar in My side." (See John 20: 27.). Did Thomas do it? No.

He just took one look at the Lord, he knew it was the Lord. He fell down on his face and he cried out, "...My Lord and my God." (John 20: 28). And then Jesus made this tremendous statement we all want to remember. "Thomas, because thou hast seen Me, thou hast believed: blessed are they which have not seen, and yet have believed." (See John 20: 29.). That is our lesson for tonight, think about it. "...faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." (Rom. 10: 17). You believe what God says and then He'll show it to you. Take another look in the camel bag now, Kevin. And then your reward for coming up here, and being born in the month of January, is what?

Kevin: This. (He was looking at the donkey.).

Nathan: Yea, what is it? Tell everybody. Some people back there can't see it.

Kevin: A donkey.

Nathan: Hold it up real high, and tell them where it comes from.

Kevin: Bethlehem.

Nathan: What happen in Bethlehem that was so important?

Kevin: Jesus was born there.

Nathan: Right. And what's so important about Jesus we want to remember?

Kevin: He's our Savior.

Nathan: Because He...

Kevin: Lives.

Nathan: And. In addition to living He did something else.

Kevin: He saved us from our sins.

Nathan: By doing what?

Kevin: Dying on the cross.

Nathan: Right you are. You got the whole sermon. We wouldn't need to have a sermon anymore now. We could dismiss the service because you got it. What kind of wood do you have there?

Kevin: Olive.

Nathan: You know all the answers. Take good care of your donkey. Thank you so much for helping me.