******************
If you would like to share
this blog with a friend copy
paste and send this blog by email
or keep this URL
http://oneadayyourspiritualvitamins.blogspot.com
IN YOUR FAVORITES
and suggest they do the same
They are changed daily.
******************
If you would like to share
this blog with a friend copy
paste and send this blog by email
or keep this URL
http://oneadayyourspiritualvitamins.blogspot.com
IN YOUR FAVORITES
and suggest they do the same
They are changed daily.
******************
The young salesman was disappointed.
He had just lost a big sale.
As
he talked with his sales manager he lamented, "I guess it just proves
you can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink."
The manager replied, "Son, take my advice: your job is not to make him drink. Your job is to make him thirsty."
Evangelism never was a great issue in the New Testament? Nowhere in its reading does one find Apostles exhorting, scolding, planning and organizing evangelistic programs.
There was no real need for a 10 Point Follow Through Program for the simple reason that a rather large number of early church members had a propensity for not shutting up.
In the Apostolic church, because so many were on fire for their faith, evangelism was somehow assumed.
In the Apostolic church, because so many were on fire for their faith, evangelism was somehow assumed.
It
was 1948 when Gulag Irkutsk, a Christian believer in Siberia, received a
25-year sentence. After refusing to work on the Sabbath, he was ordered
to stand in a 3 x 4 foot cell for 10 days with only water for
nourishment.
For a year Irkutsk went through the same routine; in confinement for 10 days and out for four days. After a year, a general came to inspect the prison camp and found Irkutsk in solitary confinement.
When the general inquired about his confinement, the prisoner explained about the Sabbath. “I am a believer in God. A sign of my loyalty to Him is to rest on the Sabbath. However, I am prepared to work twice as much the day before in order to have the Sabbath off.”
The general took him at his word and Irkutsk was ordered to carry enough water for the 1,000 prisoners – filling the reservoir by transporting well water.
Prison officials provided him with an ox, and for 10 years he and that ox followed the same routine of working twice as fast the day before and resting on the Sabbath.
Later Irkutsk was released for his outstanding work record, but the ox remained and assisted another prisoner as he transported water. When the first Sabbath came, that ox lay quietly chewing his cud.
Nothing would move the beast – neither shouting, pulling, threatening nor beating. Every Sabbath the same drama happened.
Finally the exasperated jailer told the prisoner, “You will never change the ox’s behavior. The Sabbathkeeper has made the ox into a Sabbathkeeper. And Sabbathkeepers are very, very stubborn!”
For a year Irkutsk went through the same routine; in confinement for 10 days and out for four days. After a year, a general came to inspect the prison camp and found Irkutsk in solitary confinement.
When the general inquired about his confinement, the prisoner explained about the Sabbath. “I am a believer in God. A sign of my loyalty to Him is to rest on the Sabbath. However, I am prepared to work twice as much the day before in order to have the Sabbath off.”
The general took him at his word and Irkutsk was ordered to carry enough water for the 1,000 prisoners – filling the reservoir by transporting well water.
Prison officials provided him with an ox, and for 10 years he and that ox followed the same routine of working twice as fast the day before and resting on the Sabbath.
Later Irkutsk was released for his outstanding work record, but the ox remained and assisted another prisoner as he transported water. When the first Sabbath came, that ox lay quietly chewing his cud.
Nothing would move the beast – neither shouting, pulling, threatening nor beating. Every Sabbath the same drama happened.
Finally the exasperated jailer told the prisoner, “You will never change the ox’s behavior. The Sabbathkeeper has made the ox into a Sabbathkeeper. And Sabbathkeepers are very, very stubborn!”
A
new, young Christian, once pressed his cause for Christ with a bit too
much fervor. The man to whom he was speaking finally said, “Why
don’t you just mind your own business?” The young layman then more
gently replied, “Perhaps I did come across too strong, but you see, ever
since I became a Christian, you are my business.”
How should Christ be talked about ? Well, certainly not as if spirituality and stuffiness were soul mates.
It certainly shouldn’t require a Theological library to interpret an explanation of who Jesus is. When Christ is talked about to the man on the street, remember K.I.S.S. - Keep It Simple Stupid.
Many claim they would evangelize, but they don’t know how. The last movie you became enthused about, did you have to take a communications course before you told someone about it?
Does it take a Doctorate in Evangelism to say, “Christ is my Savior” or “I need the church and so do you, my friend”?
Or if you really can’t easily share such phrases, then offer something like, “Our preacher is preaching on…whatever he is preaching on…. This is an invite.” Why is it people have no problem spreading gossip, but so much trouble spreading God?
Let’s put it this way, “…if you aren’t lighting any fires maybe it is because you’re not carrying any flame. One thing is for certain, when you talk about heaven let your face light up. When you talk about hell, your everyday face will do.” (Charles Spurgeon)
Our forefathers were nomads. The horizon was not something blocked out by urban high-rises or suburban sprawl.
It was where they might be next week, where they might hunt, or plant, or maybe stay a few short months or years before the western wanderlust got to them again.
They lived in tents or makeshift shelters or slept beneath the stars. God’s voice spoke in the thunder, in the rippling streams, in the sound of cracking frost beneath their feet. God is – and when they said it they meant it because He was close to their five senses, which, of course, increased the sensitivity of their souls.
But it isn’t that way any more. God’s got competition in His own world. It’s sometimes too noisy to think. People are too busy working or playing or recovering to worship. Many have so much they readily acclaim, “Who needs God?” And that’s where you and I come in. To say, “You need God, Mister politician, Mr. Salesman, Mr. America… and you need Him NOW!”
Perhaps the church must once again earn its right to speak.
Maybe it needs to be different - not in the way that repels, but in a way that attracts. Christ preached under-standing, but there is no understanding when church members move from church to church because of misunderstandings.
Or stay together but fuss and fume in a most unholy alliance. Mahatma Gandhi once said, “I could have believed in Christ if it hadn’t been for the people in my land who claimed to be His followers.”
The world is full of people these days who have lots of questions and spiritual needs and the world they live in isn’t giving them any real good answers.
It is not easy to see God in the rivers and lakes that stink of dead fish, nor in some of the messages neon lights blink across the night, nor a society whose too often monument is an asphalt road.
It is not easy to see God in the hunger and poverty on which we too often turn our backs, nor in the children we condemn to a lifetime of emptiness. Nor where speed is king and heaven seems too slow and out of date.
It is not easy to see God in our mastery of warfare, in our skill at slaughter and conflagration, in our mastery of diplomatic doubletalk.
Our Christian faith does not just give us noble precepts.
It defines God.
When I quote Jesus’ words of love, describe His miracles, affirm His reincarnation, I have drawn an earthly picture of a heavenly Creator. When I talk about death and accept the fact of the Resurrection, I have not just said “yes” to a Reality, I am on the way to the absorption of a Power.
When I call Jesus the Son of God and say that by faith I have become a child of God, and by repentance accept His salvation for my sins, I have underlined the compassionate, benevolent spirit of all these heavenly gifts.
When I, within the framework of my Christian faith, define good and bad, it is not just a matter of the law but of eternal instinct, a moral voice, a cry from on high -call it what you will- to be better tomorrow than I am today.
Someone once asked Dr. Charles Beard, the great historian, what lessons he had learned from history.
He responded, “First, when it gets darkest, the stars come out. Second, when a bee steals from a flower, it also fertilizes that flower. Third, whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad.”
And, yes, this is the way it goes. For first, the Crucifixion was the darkest time in the history of mankind.
Then came the miracle of the Resurrection and the stars had never shined as bright. Second, when God steals our sins by forgiveness, at that moment He fertilizes our souls. Third, if we give God our minds and thoughts and the avenues of our attitudes we will see the world through His eyes. Forget God, and we go slowly mad.
There is no such thing as an objective outlook toward life, but there is a Christian one. Anyone can stand on a hill, but when that hill is Golgotha it becomes more than just another view.
It becomes a way of life. Because of what we find to believe there, we begin to make some outlandish statements and develop some strange and wonderful attitudes and beliefs.
The Greek word for “inspiration” means “breathed out from God.” As I thought about that definition I realized it can be applied to what evangelism must be, “a breathing out about God.”
If each of us did this, went out and were inspired - breathed out about God, invited just one person, one couple, one family to attend our church would the effect be positive or negative? Would attendance improve or falter? Would it be the push that aimed some immortal soul closer to their eternal God?
On the gravestone of a missionary are written the following words:
“When he came, there was no light;
When he died, there was no darkness.”
When we have come and gone, lived out our days… one by one by one until there are no more left… what will we have brought? Light or darkness?
We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. 2 Corinthians 5:20
**********************************
DO YOU HAVE A BLOG OR FACEBOOK? IF YOU ENJOY THESE WRITINGS COULD YOU CALL ATTENTION TO THIS BLOG? IF YOU DO, THANKS IN ADVANCE
*************************************
How should Christ be talked about ? Well, certainly not as if spirituality and stuffiness were soul mates.
It certainly shouldn’t require a Theological library to interpret an explanation of who Jesus is. When Christ is talked about to the man on the street, remember K.I.S.S. - Keep It Simple Stupid.
Many claim they would evangelize, but they don’t know how. The last movie you became enthused about, did you have to take a communications course before you told someone about it?
Does it take a Doctorate in Evangelism to say, “Christ is my Savior” or “I need the church and so do you, my friend”?
Or if you really can’t easily share such phrases, then offer something like, “Our preacher is preaching on…whatever he is preaching on…. This is an invite.” Why is it people have no problem spreading gossip, but so much trouble spreading God?
Let’s put it this way, “…if you aren’t lighting any fires maybe it is because you’re not carrying any flame. One thing is for certain, when you talk about heaven let your face light up. When you talk about hell, your everyday face will do.” (Charles Spurgeon)
Our forefathers were nomads. The horizon was not something blocked out by urban high-rises or suburban sprawl.
It was where they might be next week, where they might hunt, or plant, or maybe stay a few short months or years before the western wanderlust got to them again.
They lived in tents or makeshift shelters or slept beneath the stars. God’s voice spoke in the thunder, in the rippling streams, in the sound of cracking frost beneath their feet. God is – and when they said it they meant it because He was close to their five senses, which, of course, increased the sensitivity of their souls.
But it isn’t that way any more. God’s got competition in His own world. It’s sometimes too noisy to think. People are too busy working or playing or recovering to worship. Many have so much they readily acclaim, “Who needs God?” And that’s where you and I come in. To say, “You need God, Mister politician, Mr. Salesman, Mr. America… and you need Him NOW!”
Perhaps the church must once again earn its right to speak.
Maybe it needs to be different - not in the way that repels, but in a way that attracts. Christ preached under-standing, but there is no understanding when church members move from church to church because of misunderstandings.
Or stay together but fuss and fume in a most unholy alliance. Mahatma Gandhi once said, “I could have believed in Christ if it hadn’t been for the people in my land who claimed to be His followers.”
The world is full of people these days who have lots of questions and spiritual needs and the world they live in isn’t giving them any real good answers.
It is not easy to see God in the rivers and lakes that stink of dead fish, nor in some of the messages neon lights blink across the night, nor a society whose too often monument is an asphalt road.
It is not easy to see God in the hunger and poverty on which we too often turn our backs, nor in the children we condemn to a lifetime of emptiness. Nor where speed is king and heaven seems too slow and out of date.
It is not easy to see God in our mastery of warfare, in our skill at slaughter and conflagration, in our mastery of diplomatic doubletalk.
Our Christian faith does not just give us noble precepts.
It defines God.
When I quote Jesus’ words of love, describe His miracles, affirm His reincarnation, I have drawn an earthly picture of a heavenly Creator. When I talk about death and accept the fact of the Resurrection, I have not just said “yes” to a Reality, I am on the way to the absorption of a Power.
When I call Jesus the Son of God and say that by faith I have become a child of God, and by repentance accept His salvation for my sins, I have underlined the compassionate, benevolent spirit of all these heavenly gifts.
When I, within the framework of my Christian faith, define good and bad, it is not just a matter of the law but of eternal instinct, a moral voice, a cry from on high -call it what you will- to be better tomorrow than I am today.
Someone once asked Dr. Charles Beard, the great historian, what lessons he had learned from history.
He responded, “First, when it gets darkest, the stars come out. Second, when a bee steals from a flower, it also fertilizes that flower. Third, whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad.”
And, yes, this is the way it goes. For first, the Crucifixion was the darkest time in the history of mankind.
Then came the miracle of the Resurrection and the stars had never shined as bright. Second, when God steals our sins by forgiveness, at that moment He fertilizes our souls. Third, if we give God our minds and thoughts and the avenues of our attitudes we will see the world through His eyes. Forget God, and we go slowly mad.
There is no such thing as an objective outlook toward life, but there is a Christian one. Anyone can stand on a hill, but when that hill is Golgotha it becomes more than just another view.
It becomes a way of life. Because of what we find to believe there, we begin to make some outlandish statements and develop some strange and wonderful attitudes and beliefs.
The Greek word for “inspiration” means “breathed out from God.” As I thought about that definition I realized it can be applied to what evangelism must be, “a breathing out about God.”
If each of us did this, went out and were inspired - breathed out about God, invited just one person, one couple, one family to attend our church would the effect be positive or negative? Would attendance improve or falter? Would it be the push that aimed some immortal soul closer to their eternal God?
On the gravestone of a missionary are written the following words:
“When he came, there was no light;
When he died, there was no darkness.”
When we have come and gone, lived out our days… one by one by one until there are no more left… what will we have brought? Light or darkness?
We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. 2 Corinthians 5:20
**********************************
DO YOU HAVE A BLOG OR FACEBOOK? IF YOU ENJOY THESE WRITINGS COULD YOU CALL ATTENTION TO THIS BLOG? IF YOU DO, THANKS IN ADVANCE
*************************************
A quote below from ONE A DAY blog entitled LEADING YOUR CHILD TO GOD
“A lack of direction is not fine. A paucity of instruction is foolish. Life is a highway and there are a lot of side roads that spell trouble.”
**************************
TO VISIT Neil’s other blog WYRICK’S WRITING (A variety of serializations; a novel on Sunday and Tuesday and Thursday varying subjects) (3 times a week added to)
CLICK ON THE FOLLOWING URL
http://wyrickswritings.blogspot.com
****************************
“A lack of direction is not fine. A paucity of instruction is foolish. Life is a highway and there are a lot of side roads that spell trouble.”
**************************
TO VISIT Neil’s other blog WYRICK’S WRITING (A variety of serializations; a novel on Sunday and Tuesday and Thursday varying subjects) (3 times a week added to)
CLICK ON THE FOLLOWING URL
http://wyrickswritings.blogspot.com
****************************
TO WATCH NEIL WYRICK IN HIS ONE MAN DRAMAS (Presented to millions all around the world)
(Ben Franklin, Martin Luther, Charles Wesley and Abraham Lincoln (this
Lincoln film takes 11 seconds to download but is worth the wait)
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