Thursday, April 19, 2012

"Am I A 3-Year-Old At Heart?"

Reading my daily scripture reading for the day
was interrupted by the screams and cries for help.

To the rescue.

But I did not find hurt... or pain... or injury.

I found the 3-year-old unable to turn on the basement light.
SO, he resorted to attention-grabbing screams and cries to elicit my help.

On the light went.

How much do I act in this same manner?

Instead of going to Father to seek His help... I get my 3-year-old self on.


What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You want something but don’t get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God.  When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. James 4:1-3 NIV1984

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

"Teach & Preach"

It is interesting to me to observe that Jesus never actually gave an evangelistic message (so far as the gospels tell us), nor did He ever give an invitation (as we know it -- see Matthew 11:28-30). When Paul speaks of the conversion of the Ephesians he describes it as "learning Christ" (Ephesians 4:20). Frankly, if we are teaching God's Word as we should people will be learning of Christ, including the lost. I have seen a number of people saved by listening to teaching addressed to believers.

For these reasons I would say that many churches need to quit trying to attract unbelievers to church, seeking to win them to Christ there, but they should start teaching believers the Scriptures, helping saints to know and develop their spiritual gifts, and then sending them out into the world with the gospel.

-- Bob Deffinbaugh