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Showing posts from April, 2010

Do First, Then Be

I'm always fascinated by child prodigies. This morning on Fox News I saw a 7 year old tap-dancer who was phenomenal. I don't know the percentages, but I'd guess that prodigies in any field of endeavor are few and far between. On the other hand there are those who became great at what they do by doing it...over and over again. I remember reading that Einstein was not a very good student. Lincoln failed at numerous attempts for public office before becoming one of our best known presidents. Sometimes there is a parent who sacrifices a great deal and pushes a child to become great (Tiger Woods) In my own life I've experienced modest success in several fields of ministry simply by doing them. I started out in Music & Youth ministry,and was mediocre at best in both of them. Finally, after 20 years of combination ministry, I sensed God asking me to move into full-time Student Ministry. Though I was not young (40 at the time) and was not a former athlete, scintill

Justifying My Existence

Today it dawned on me that for all the teaching and preaching I do, nothing will ever match the accomplishment of sharing the gospel with a lost person and seeing the light come on in their soul as they receive Christ. Even writing that is convicting. Today I scoured both my Twitter and FaceBook accts. and found no mention of a person being led to Christ...and the large majority of my FB "friends" and Twitter "buds" are professing Christians. I spent my time today studying and preparing for the Wednesday evening prayer meeting and Sunday morning services. That is a good use of time, but during that time 1000s went into eternity without Christ. I'm on the verge of deciding that Christians are some of the least effective people on the planet when it comes to propagating their own kind. For all our rhetoric, words in print, programs and plans, we see very little return. That makes me wonder if God is all that involved with what we are doing. If so, where is

The Mis-understanding of Prayer

After 50+ years in local church ministry, I'm convinced that most churches/Christians don't understand the power or purpose for prayer. Fully 90% of the prayer topics addressed in most churches are health related; 5% is asking blessing upon whatever meeting is taking place, with only 5% left to deal with such issues as the Good News of the Kingdom, salvation of the lost, missions, elected civil leaders and spiritual growth of the saints. (all of which are Biblical) If we learn to use the formidable tool that God has given us, I believe we will see the church come alive and our nation once again impacted by the Gospel of Christ. A study of the prayers of Jesus, Paul, David, Daniel and Nehemiah gives insight into prayer that prompts God's response. I think that God is waiting for His people to seek Him as something other than an EMT. We need to learn to seek His face, not just His hands. Once we begin to pray as the Bible teaches, we will see God's intervention in al

Salvation Comes Complete; No Add-ons

We just bought a Blue-ray disc player as an anniversary gift, from us-to us-with love. I unpacked it, connected it to the TV, but then read that to get the most from it I would need to hook up to the internet. I have a wireless router, but behold...in order to connect to my router, I must purchase a "wireless bridge" which noone in Sebring, FL carries. On line searches revealed that I can bid for one on E-bay; buy one from Amazon for @ $85 or buy one on-line from various stores for anywhere from $100 to $130 plus shipping and handling. When I went wireless in the house, I also had to buy 2 bridges to connect my 2 Tivo's to the internet. Are you getting the picture? It seems that everything digital comes bare-bones but...for a price you can buy add-ons that make your system what you thought you were getting in the first place. All of this makes me so very glad that when I accepted Christ, I got it all! I got eternal life with Christ, a home in heaven, the in-dwelling