Tue, Jan 5th - 2:50PM

Tue, Jan 5th - 2:32PM

The Beggar and the Bread

"Evangelism is just one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread." D. T. Niles

That quote was credited to me by a dear brother sharing a message from Ephesians 2:8, 9 recently at a nursing home following our church service. He had heard it from me, shared it as my quote so I had to find that quote and give credit to whom credit is due! (Your passion, Ray, was evident and the message has its own steam so praise the Lord for your desire to share Christ! (I know Ray is reading this ;) )

I wonder how many of us really struggle with standing before an individual or a number of individuals, to share the lifesaving message of salvation in Jesus Christ? I wonder if it is not ourselves with whom we struggle. We are sharing with the listener(s) what God has done for us. While we are indeed recipients of all that comes with being in a right relationship with God, the message is all about Jesus Christ, who He is, who we are without Him, and what He did to set things right. Apart from how we ourselves are effected, the message has nothing to do with us, so why are we so frightened to open up our mouths?

I suggest to you that the encounter may either be a success or a failure, in our minds that is, by how well we deliver the message. Our pastor is away on vacation and the brother who filled in for him during yesterday's morning service had touched on this and it got me thinking more about it. What are we actually doing when we share the gospel? Are we auditioning for a speaking position somewhere? Not unless we are a pastoral candidate for a church without a pastor. Are we in front of this person or this group of people trying to impress them with how well we speak? With our knowledge of the Scriptures? We had better not be! Are we trying to merit favor with God by this 'good deed?' If so, we have no understanding of the grace we speak of and our words will have no power.

That is it, isn't it? The power of the message to change the heart. The power lies not with us, but with God. The gospel is the good news: He came, He died, He was buried, He rose again, He's coming back. Praise God for His unspeakable gift! We would do well to remember Romans 1:16 "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God UNTO salvation to everyone that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek." (Emphasis mine).

If we understand Jesus' parable of the sower then we understand that it is we who are the sowers, sowing seed. The seed is the Word of God. The ground on which the seed falls is the heart. We are simply called to sow seed. The illustration is, in part, that the seed is sown by the sower but there is nothing said about the sower (say that three times fast!). Nothing about his boldness, his eloquence or lack thereof. He's just throwing out the seed and it is landing on the ground. Some fell on stony ground, some fell on good ground. But he just sows the seed. The seed once thrown takes root or it does not but that process is out of our hands.

Yes, let us pray for boldness. Yes, let us be skillful in the Word as Timothy instructs us in II Timothy 2:15, to rightly divide the Word of Truth. But you don't have to be a Biblical scholar to present the gospel.

If you love God, hate sin and love the sinner and you have a desire to tell people what God has done for you then just get out there and sow seed! If you do NOT have a desire to see the lost come to Christ then you better check your heart. If you do, get busy because time is running out.

So many lost, so little time! - L. R. Myers. (I just made that up! And I don't care about the credit so go ahead and use it!)

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