Like riddles?
Here’s a popular one:
I never was, am always to be,
No one ever saw me, nor ever will
And yet I am the confidence of all.
What am I?
You may already know the answer. It is tomorrow. It is the future. If there’s one thing I’ve heard all my life, it’s that when brethren choose preachers they are always worried about the “future,” even though it never comes and is “always to be.”
What they ought to be concerned with is today. What are we doing today to preach the gospel and save the lost? When asked that question, many of our brethren have no answer. They’re watching their congregation’s average age climb into the 60’s and their membership descend into the 30’s, and they wonder what they can do to change the trend. But, with many of them it’s always about the day that never comes, but is always to be. No one has ever seen the future, nor ever will. And yet, it is the confidence of all.
Jesus said, “So then, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.
Today has enough trouble of its own,” – Matthew 6:34.
– Hugh Fulford
Nothing Satan Threw At Them Worked
“Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went” Acts 8:4.
This statement has always ran counter to what I’ve observed in the my two decades of ministry. If evangelism is to happen, then every factor in people’s lives have to be perfect. After things are going well in the marriage, with the kids, with finances, at work, and with friends, then life is stable enough to think about telling someone else about Jesus. But, as long as even just one piece of our life’s puzzle is out of place, then we shrink back into ourselves to lick our wounds and figure it out.
Guess how often Satan is going to make sure you have a struggle going on if it will keep God’s people from preaching the gospel? Always.
Not Christians in the first century! Like coals of a fire when a large log is thrown onto them, they spread and catch onto other tinder. How frustrated Satan must have been during the early decades of Jesus’ church! Nothing he threw at them worked; those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went.
How could that be us again? We tell of other things important to us. The gospel must become important. Our faith must grow.
Are you telling the gospel?
– Doug Kashorek
What Example Should Christians Set When It Comes To Wealth?
This week’s ‘Gospel Advocate’ lesson over James 5:1-12 asked an important question … a question the Bible discusses hundreds of times (seems that way). “What example should Christians set when it comes to wealth?
Here are some answers that I took note of:
- Gain it by honesty. Being wealthy isn’t a sin. Gaining wealth through sin is! (1 Timothy 6:9-10, Ecclesiastes 5:18, Ephesians 4:28, Proverbs 28:8, Leviticus 19:35-36)
- Use it righteously. Be mindful of investments that sow benefits from unrighteous behavior! (Proverbs 1:10-19)
- Don’t use it as a standard to judge people. The richness of a soul doesn’t always equate to one’s wallet! (Leviticus 19:15, James 2:3)
- Use it to help others. Wealth is a tool and a responsibility! (1 Timothy 6:17, Job 31:16-19, Proverbs 19:17)
These are only a few examples that Christians, according to God’s word, should set when it comes to wealth.
Can you think of others?
– Eugene Adkins
O Waster of Time!
O Waster of Time! Your minutes, one by one, silently slip away unnoticed.
Hours are thrown aside, and days and weeks are lost in mists of unplanned life and vague objectives.
– JR Matheny
