Show and Tell

Today I was prepping for teaching my co-op class. Today my boys were going to learn how to "show" things in their writing, not just "tell" them.

Example:

"Paul was very angry when he came into his room"

as opposed to:

"Paul's face turned beet red with rage as he stormed into his room, muttering evil things and kicking the furnature."

The first tells you about it. Very clearly and concisely. But you can't really understand exactly what happened until you read the one that SHOWS you about it.

So I'm getting all the prints and activities loaded up for class and I'm thinking about how this relates to sharing our faith. We can TELL about the love of Christ till our teeth fall out. But if we do not SHOW it--if it does not shine through us, how are people really to understand? That's something to admire about the disciples when they were telling their friends about Jesus after they had first met him. Their main line was, "Come and see!" They knew they couldn't fully tell about how amazing Jesus was. They didn't flounder for words or argue about how many good things possible could come out of Nazareth. They were ready to SHOW them their new master. Sometimes just words don't do it. Letting God's love show is what really counts. Has anyone ever noticed that our God is really really hard to try to describe? :)

A Very Nice Chap

I am reading Jesus Freaks by DC Talk, and I recommend it to every Christian in America! This story really stuck in my head. A pastor of an underground church in Russia in the 1940s writes this:

"When I was still living behind the Iron Curtain, I had met a Russian captain. He loved God, he longed after God, but he had never seen a Bible. He had never attended religious services. He had no religious education, but he loved God without the slightest knowledge of Him.

"I read to him the Sermon on the Mount and the parables of Jesus. After hearing them, he danced around the room in rapturous joy, proclaiming, 'What a wonderful beauty! How could I live without knowing this Christ?" It was the first time that I saw someone jubilating in Christ.

"Then I made a mistake. I read to him the passion of crucifixion of Christ, without having prepared him for this. He had not expected it. When he heard how Christ was beaten, how He was crucified, and that in the end He died, he fell in an armchair and began to weep bitterly. He had believed in a Savior and now his Savior was dead!

"I looked at him and was ashamed that I had called myself a Christian and a pastor, a teacher of others. I had never shared the sufferings of Christ as this Russian officer now shared them. Looking at him was, for me, like seeing Mary Magdalene weeping at the foot of the cross or at the empty tomb.

Then I read to him the story of the resurrection. When he heard this wonderful news, that the Savior arose from the tomb, he slapped his knees and shouted for joy: 'He is alive! He is alive!' Again he danced around the room, overwhelmed with happiness!

"I said to him, 'Let us pray!'

He fell on his knees together with me. He did not know our holy phrases. His words of prayer were, 'O God, what a fine chap you are! If I were You and You were me, I would never have forgiven You Your sins. But You are really a very nice chap! I love You with all my heart!'

"I think that all the angels in heaven stopped what they were doing to listen to this sublime prayer from this Russian officer. When this man received Christ, he knew he would immediately lose his position as an officer, that prison and perhaps death in jail would almost surely follow. He gladly paid the price. He was ready to lose everything."

"Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls." ~ 1 Peter 1:8-9

Our Job

Well, according to my Bible reading plan, I was supposed to read in Jeremiah. I don't really care for Jeremiah, for some reason it's a tough read for me. But today I was reading and lots of things were underlined with notes and cool stuff I forgot about! "Whoa! Who knew this stuff was in Jeremiah?" BUT guess what? It wasn't in Jeremiah. I read in Isaiah. For some reason I didn't noticed the little word ISAIAH at the top of each page until the end... not good for the confidence!:P BUT who cares, I found another neat passage anyway!!! It talks about our job.

"This is what God the LORD says—

he who created the heavens and stretched them out,

who spread out the earth and all that comes out of it,

who gives breath to its people,

and life to those who walk on it:
"I, the LORD, have called you in righteousness;

I will take hold of your hand.

I will keep you and will make you

to be a covenant for the people

and a light for the Gentiles,
to open eyes that are blind,

to free captives from prison

and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness."

When you hear of the cool things the police do, and the army search and rescue stuff, you think, "Whoa, cool!!!!!!!!! Those people are so neat!" Tough, fearless, skilled, and ready!!! Don't mean to bust this in on ya folks, but guess what? That's what God calls us to do for souls! We hare supposed to free captives from prison and show them the narrow way out of the cell!

Are we AWOL? Are we stepping out to do what God has called us to do?

Evangelism

I've been thinking a lot on the subject of evangelism. We know what it means, but in the dictionary it's described as "missionary zeal, purpose, or activity". We know some good ones that do seminars and such. But how can we do it? What is it? Sharing Christ with others, of course, but how is it generally done? Most of the evangelists I know of are very smart people, in brain and in the gospel. They know Jesus's response to a lot of problems, and know all the right verses. Of course, I'm learning. But it got me to thinking... then I read these verses in 1 Corinthians:

1 Corinthians 1:17-18

"For Christ did not send me to baptise, but to preach the gospel— not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God."

I am reminded of a great line in FIREPROOF... "The cross was offensive to me too - until I came to it."

1 Corinthians 2:4-5
"My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power,

so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power."

Wait, NOT with wise and persuasive words? Well, that's good for me - I can't use those kind very well. But what is a demonstration of the Spirit's power? Turn the water to blood? I don't think so. I could be wrong, but the way I see it is that I AM a demonstration of the Spirit's power. After all, if I didn't have the spirit, I wouldn't be the way I am today. So if I show people the light in me, they will see it and want what I have. Hence, another FIREPROOF line: "Something's changed in you. And I want what happened to you to happen to me."

I do NOT think that came out right.