The year was 1972, and Paul Henderson became the most famous person in Canada. “My friends would say: You are one of the luckiest guys alive. And as I looked at myself…I was 29, I was doing something that I always wanted to do – playing in the NHL, been there 9 years, enjoyed the career, my wife and family enjoyed the life…The future even looked rosier than the past…I was somewhat of a hero of this country. But inside I wasn’t content. I started asking questions.” Paul was famous, but not fulfilled. Discover how he went from being famous to becoming fulfilled!

<p>The year was 1972, and Paul Henderson became the most famous person in Canada. “My friends would say: You are one of the luckiest guys alive. And as I looked at myself…I was 29, I was doing something that I always wanted to do – playing in the NHL, been there 9 years, enjoyed the career, my wife and family enjoyed the life…The future even looked rosier than the past…I was somewhat of a hero of this country. But inside I wasn’t content. I started asking questions.” Paul was famous, but not fulfilled. Discover how he went from being famous to becoming fulfilled!</p>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Empower Missions

Christian Hjortland

Famous but Not Fulfilled

In 1972, Canada's national hockey team played in a series against Russia. In the very last game, in the very last minute, Paul Henderson came to the ice. The game was currently timed, and if it would end with a tie, Russia would win this year. So Canada needed one more goal and Paul Henderson came on the scene and scored what became an historic goal. The picture of Paul scoring was put on buildings all over Canada. In fact, it is still there in some small towns. Paul Henderson became the most popular person in Canada. Everyone loved him. He was making so much money and he was so famous and popular. He felt so empty. Nobody knew, nobody would guess. He would go home thinking how empty he was and how he wanted to be filled, but he did not know how. Paul Henderson was the oldest of five kids growing up in Ontario, Canada. He had a mom and dad who loved him. Early in his childhood, he started dreaming big. He was aiming to become an athlete, and when he was 14 years old, he had his plans clear to be successful and to have money. You see, he was born in a quite poor family and he thought that if he only had money, the problems would go away. He started to play for Detroit Red Wings in the nhl, and then he traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs during the hockey games in this series in 1972, Paul actually ended up scoring the winning goal of three games, and Paul said, my friends would say, you are one of the luckiest guys alive. And as I looked at myself, I was 29, I was doing something that I always wanted to do, playing in the N H L. I'd been there for nine years, enjoyed a career my wife and family, and joined the life. The future even looked roci than the past. I was somewhat of a hero of this country, but inside I wasn't content. I started asking questions. Paul's wife and children went to church, but Paul was not really interested. There was a Christian man who saw Paul Henderson on television and he, he said to himself, that man is unhappy. And he started praying for him. He felt a call from God to reach out to this man to buy a letter bound Bible writing the name Paul Henderson on the cover, and then go to his house and giving him that Bible. And this is what he finally did. He went to his house and guess what? Paul Henderson, the man that everyone wanted to see opened the door. The man told Paul, God wanted me to give this book to you. Paul said, thank you, but I've never read the Bible before. To make a long story short, this man studied the Bible together with Paul Henderson for two and a half years, and then he came to believe that there was a God that wanted to have a personal relationship with him. He also understood that the reason why he wasn't content with his life, even if he had all that a man would want, was that he was separated from God. He realized this, this was the reason he was separated from guard, and he learned that even if he was not an openly, you can say very rebellious guy, he experienced the consequences of living a life with separation from God. And this is why his life was so empty. Paul understood that the message of God was personal. He said, I did nothing to deserve it. God loved me, Paul Henderson so much that he sent his son the Lord Jesus Christ, to die on the cross to pay the penalty for Paul Henderson's sin. And he continues, wow, he died for me. I can either accept his love or reject it. Paul wanted to become a Christian, but he had three problems. Number one, worrying about being ridiculous. What are the people gonna say if I become a Christian? He thought number two, looking upon Christianity as dos and don'ts. He, you know, he wanted to do many of the don'ts, so this was also another problem. Number three, realizing that if you really love the Lord, you need to make a stand for him. You know, this is quite radical and he's gonna, he has to. He, if he were follow this, he would've to take the consequences. But despite these concerns, Paul decided to commit his life to God. He was surrounded by good Christians who supported him on this new journey. What an amazing story. Do you know that you too can experience this? Jesus says in Revelation chapter three, behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him and dine with him and he with me. Jesus is knocking on the door of your Har. There is no handle to open it on the outside. It's on the inside. Only you, only you can open that door and let Christ in. Do you want to experience what Paul Henderson experienced? You know, here's his personal counsel. He says, number one, find someone who loved the Lord and get support from there. Number two, find a good Bible believing church where the Bible is of high esteem and where there are answers, ask questions, and then he has one more advice. Pray to the Lord. Say, reveal yourself to me. Paul Henderson said that the day that he accepted Christ as his savior, he was filled with much more joy than he was filled with on the day that he scored that famous goal, he said that he would rather give up that experience than to give up his experience of knowing Jesus. Since that day, Paul Henderson has been sharing his faith with anyone who wants to listen, all his fears disappeared and suddenly it was completely worth it to be a follower of Christ and he would not return to his old life. Jesus said, come to me all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. This is a precious promise. I want to ask you, do you want to start a new journey? Perhaps you have been on the journey with God before, but you have slipped back. Don't delay. Come to Jesus. You have a choice, the world or Jesus. Do you want to give Jesus your all an unreserved surrender? Make this choice today. This media was brought to you by audio verse, a website dedicated to spreading God's word through free sermon, audio, and much more. If you would like to know more about Audio verse or if you would like to listen to more sermons, please visit www.audio verse.org.

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Famous but Not Fulfilled

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Sound Doctrine