"To Titus, mine own son after the common faith...." (Titus 1:4, KJV)
I was listening to and reading our text this morning. Some people don't need much to be blessed; I'm one of them. Maybe that's why I was never "successful" as a local pastor, you know, large church, attracting large crowds. There may have been other reasons, but one I think was my "simple" approach to the Bible. I remember in one of our parishes years ago I was preaching through the Book of Hebrews. One particular Sunday as we were in Hebrews 11, I was reading the chapter in the NIV and came to verse 5, "For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God." I stopped; I could not go on. That phrase hit me with such impact that the thought went through me, right there before the congregation, "This is all I want." The thought also ran through me, "But do I have this?" I remember continuing the message somehow. This is the glorious life in Jesus, no agenda, no searching for texts to promote my pastoral concerns, no "I've-gotta-find-something-to-keep-people-coming," just, "Speak, Lord, for Thy servant heareth," and then whatever that may be, to pass it on. I'm not attempting to "out spiritualize" anyone. This is life in Jesus Christ, "life eternal." This, I believe, is what is so wonderful about our walk in Jesus Christ. In His Words is a continual flow of His Life, "God-Breathed," impartation, fellowship of an indescribable nature.
The same happened to me today with the phrase, "....the common faith." I am a partaker in, "the common faith," of the Living Triune God, Father, Son Jesus, Holy Spirit. And, I am a fellow partaker in, "the common faith," with Paul and Titus, Polycarp, the Celtic Gaul, Ireneaus, and The North Africans, Tertullian and Augustine, the Frenchman, Bernard of Clairveaux, the Czech, Jan Huss, the Germans, August Francke and Count Nicolaus von Zinzendorf, the Englishmen, Wesley and Whitefield, the man from Connecticut, John Edwards, as well as Finney, Moody, Earl Sherwood, Tom Barnette and Kenneth Barnette, and with you, my Fellow Follower of Jesus Christ, wherever you live, your background, ethnicity, race, gender, etc. We are a part of the Glorious Body of Christ, The Historic Church, "and upon this rock I will build My Church." In the great, "common faith," not in any "declaration" or "constitution," hopes and dreams of earthly powers, but in, "the common faith," which the Bible describes as, "the faith of Jesus," we share our common life. The Church, the People of, "the common faith," He is still "building," still expanding. We are the People called to continue the tradition of those whom the Bible speaks, "their sound went out into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world."
Father, in Jesus' Name, I pray that as a partaker of, "the common faith," I will continue in the great tradition. Amen.
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We have two slots filled for the 24/7 prayer chain: 11:00 & 07:00
I was listening to and reading our text this morning. Some people don't need much to be blessed; I'm one of them. Maybe that's why I was never "successful" as a local pastor, you know, large church, attracting large crowds. There may have been other reasons, but one I think was my "simple" approach to the Bible. I remember in one of our parishes years ago I was preaching through the Book of Hebrews. One particular Sunday as we were in Hebrews 11, I was reading the chapter in the NIV and came to verse 5, "For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God." I stopped; I could not go on. That phrase hit me with such impact that the thought went through me, right there before the congregation, "This is all I want." The thought also ran through me, "But do I have this?" I remember continuing the message somehow. This is the glorious life in Jesus, no agenda, no searching for texts to promote my pastoral concerns, no "I've-gotta-find-something-to-keep-people-coming," just, "Speak, Lord, for Thy servant heareth," and then whatever that may be, to pass it on. I'm not attempting to "out spiritualize" anyone. This is life in Jesus Christ, "life eternal." This, I believe, is what is so wonderful about our walk in Jesus Christ. In His Words is a continual flow of His Life, "God-Breathed," impartation, fellowship of an indescribable nature.
The same happened to me today with the phrase, "....the common faith." I am a partaker in, "the common faith," of the Living Triune God, Father, Son Jesus, Holy Spirit. And, I am a fellow partaker in, "the common faith," with Paul and Titus, Polycarp, the Celtic Gaul, Ireneaus, and The North Africans, Tertullian and Augustine, the Frenchman, Bernard of Clairveaux, the Czech, Jan Huss, the Germans, August Francke and Count Nicolaus von Zinzendorf, the Englishmen, Wesley and Whitefield, the man from Connecticut, John Edwards, as well as Finney, Moody, Earl Sherwood, Tom Barnette and Kenneth Barnette, and with you, my Fellow Follower of Jesus Christ, wherever you live, your background, ethnicity, race, gender, etc. We are a part of the Glorious Body of Christ, The Historic Church, "and upon this rock I will build My Church." In the great, "common faith," not in any "declaration" or "constitution," hopes and dreams of earthly powers, but in, "the common faith," which the Bible describes as, "the faith of Jesus," we share our common life. The Church, the People of, "the common faith," He is still "building," still expanding. We are the People called to continue the tradition of those whom the Bible speaks, "their sound went out into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world."
Father, in Jesus' Name, I pray that as a partaker of, "the common faith," I will continue in the great tradition. Amen.
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We have two slots filled for the 24/7 prayer chain: 11:00 & 07:00
When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"
"Looking unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2
"Looking unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2
