Will it make a difference?

A wise man (a retired missionary ho is now with the Lord) once said to me, "When you find that your work is getting in the way of your minstry, it is time to consider Bible college."

He explained his thoughts a bit more clearly to me in case I didn't quite grasp what he was saying. We are all called to minister, to be missionaries wherever the Good Lord places us. There is no escaping this calling. It's there at the end of Matthew's Gospel for all to see.

However, we are all also called to be exemplary employees to whoever pays our wages. Now, if we find that we are so successful in our first calling, that it would affect our ability to do the second, then it is time to seek the Lord's leading as to how He would like to finance the ministry He has given us - for it would not be fair to rob a human employer for the sake of the gospel.

Of course it is that point, when further training to become more effective and to learn how to live by faith, becomes a priority. Up until that point, a Bible college education is not going to make as significant a difference.

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Bible Teaching Resource

For those of you looking for Bile teaching resources, I recently came across a short free email course on how to improve the way you teach the Bible.

The author is Glenn Brooke - if you've never stopped to take a look at his weblog, you should make the effort. On his website, he also sells a more in-depth ebook on the subject. Click on this link for more information on both the free course and the $29 book.

If you join his email list, you get access to a few other free Bible teaching resources too.

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Exporting success

It is essential that those who play a part in building the church have a clear experience of the power of the Almighty in transforming their own lifes. If it doesn't work at home, then what makes you think that it will work anywhere else?

Service to the church is not a repository for God's cast-offs, misfits who have failed in other ventures and finally decided that the only thing left for them to try is full-time Christian service. Yes, God loves failures; and our determination of failure is not the same as his. But if we believe that the Good Lord deserves the best, then this means that it is the responsibility of those who are the most gifted to earnestly examine whether He has called them to set themselves apart for his service.

This is not to deny that the less than perfect can hope to receive the call. The Bible is full of the stories of men and women who blew their chances of success, who blundered into God's call. God will call whoever will listen and serve, regardless of age, family background, gender, reputation, physical appearnace or academic ability.

But if we are serious about service, we need to also be serious about stewardship, study, sin, speech...

We may not all have the gifts to be the best preacher, evangelist, Bible teacher, pastor - but we can all strive to be the best we can be at whatever the Lord brings our way.

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