It Is Not Going To Work In Your Favor

It really is a true story.

It happened in Florida back in 1986. Jurors were being transported upstairs by elevator to hear a case when the elevator got stuck between floors. For twenty minutes they hung there until the elevator was finally fixed. On their late arrival, the judge was concerned that the event might sway the jury. Why?

The case they were to rule on involved an escalator accident. And the company being sued was the Otis Elevator company. The same company that operated the elevator they had just been stuck in. And they knew it because they have been staring at that sign for the last twenty minutes. Amazingly, the judge decided not to disqualify any of the stranded passengers/jurors, concluding instead that they were able to put aside their recent experience with the defendant and rule fairly.

I’m not so sure.

The actions that surround a message have a great impact on the message. We need to remember that. If a person searching for truth and a church family comes thru our doors to a place that looks ill kept and out of date with nary a smile or greeting, to a service that looks throw together at the last minute with halfhearted singing and rout prayers, it might not matter what is preached the message will have been delivered long before.

It’s not just at worship. Our lives are a sign hanging proclaim the Lord as our creator and ruler of our lives (1^st Peter 2:12). If we are not functioning the way we were intended, it brings reproach on His name.

sound in speech which is beyond reproach, so that the opponent will be put to shame, having nothing bad to say about us.

Titus 2:8

Let never let those that are supposed to bring people to Christ be the very thing that loses the case.

Comments

Why Does A Lion Tamer Use a Chair?

Ok, I know you have seen the image. A lion tamer enters in the cage of the beast and forces it to obey his commands using a whip, a gun and a chair. Now you can see how the whip and gun could come in handy but you might be wondering why a chair would intimidate an animal as powerful as a lion? Clyde Beatty taming a lion with a chair It's not that the lion is afraid of the chair -- it's that the lion is confused by the chair. Cats are single-minded, and the points of the chair's four legs bobbing around confuse the lion enough that it loses its train of thought. Casually put, the chair distracts the lion from wanting to claw the lion tamer's face off. The powerful creature could destroy the chair in moment’s notice but instead it is distracted into submission. It’s not too much different than how Satan controls us today. By the power of God we could overcome anything that he would use to subdue us. We can overcome the evil one (1 st John 2:13-14). ...

The Right to Arm Bears

In the book of 2 nd Kings 2, we have one of the most unusual, violent and curious passages in scripture. It involves the prophet Elisha siccing a couple of bears on some kids that were mocking his bald head. As a guy that is a little light on top that has been around some surly kids, I can feel for the guy. But seriously a bear attack? On kids? What is going on? ….young lads came out from the city and mocked him and said to him, "Go up, you baldhead; go up, you baldhead!" When he looked behind him and saw them, he cursed them in the name of the LORD. Then two female bears came out of the woods and tore up forty-two lads of their number. 2 nd Kings 2:23-25 It might help to explore the passage a bit more. The baldhead statement: This was an identifying mark of the prophet as opposed to Elijah who was hairy (1st Kings 1:8) a jab to say you are not him. The taunt to go up: Elijah has just been taken into heaven by the Lord a sight seen by ...

The Mighty Gulf

It is hard to get people on two sides of an issue to come together. Each has their own viewpoint, their perceptive, their own foibles, their own understanding. To gain any common ground there must be something in common. Something or someone that can bridge the gulf between the two. Could there be a greater gulf than there was between God and man? How could a holy perfect God find a way to connect to the fallen, imperfect mankind? How can one without temptation connect to those who are beset by it? How could limited mortal beings understand an omnipotent eternal God? In 1 Timothy 2:5, we read, “ For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus .” The phrase mediator here describes a person that bridges the gap, a go-between. Jesus was one who could stand in both worlds. A perfect holy one who can understand our temptations, a man who would die yet live eternally, One who was God yet became flesh and dwelt among us. ...

Ecclesiastes 12:10

Search This Blog