A DIFFERENT KIND OF CHURCH

restored

Adam Meadows is our new church custodian and I asked him a few days ago to repair the lawn mower the church owned.  It had broken down over a year ago and some parts of the mower had been removed to determine the problem.  We purchased the necessary part to repair it some time ago, but for whatever reason it had gone undone.  I knew that if it was not soon fixed parts would began to disapear or be misplaced and then it would be difficult and more expensive to restore it to a working condition. 

Our lives as Christians are very simular to the lawnmower situation.  We often have parts of our lives break down.  Maybe it's a relationship or a friendship.  Sometimes it's our commitment to Christ, His Church, or to our quiet time with Him.  Whatever the broken part, the longer we allow it to go on unrepaired the more difficult it becomes to restore.

To repair the lawnmower it took two things, the right part and the right person.  With our lives as Christians it involves the right parts; confession and repentance, and the right person; our Lord, who makes all things new.  What a wonderful Savior! 

Some versus in the Bible I never grow tired of because they mean so much and are so needful in my christian journey.  IJohn 1:9 is one of those special verses.  "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us form all unrighteousness."  The greatest refresher when I'm tired and dirty is to take a bath.  The greatest refreser for the Christian comes from the cleansing God gives when we confess all that crud (sin) we have allowed to build up in our hearts.  He cleanses completely the heart that confess all known sin.   Isn't it good to know you don't have to confess everything you have ever done wrong to be restored, just those things He brings to rememberance.  He forgives those we confess and washes away all the rest.  What a wounderful Savior!

Tell your story

I was at a meeting recently where the speaker was encouraging those present to use every ministry opportunity as a platform from which to "tell their story," the story of what Christ had done in their life.  "Great," I thought, "someone who practices lifestyle evangelism".  Then he went on to tell of a person he knew who become seriously ill and ended up in the hospital.  The man didn't go to church or like preachers.  I waited anxiously for him to tell us the rest of the story of how he went and told him "his story."  But to my disapointment he went looking for a preacher to go and talk to this man.  Thankfully a preacher went, the man agreed to see him, and he committed his life to Christ.  But I sat there dumbfound!  What happened to "telling your story?"

My prayer for this church is that there will be multitudes of people who reguarly "tell their story."  I hear some of you telling your story of what Christ is doing in your life on the message board.  Great!  Good place to share and practice.  I enjoy reading them and it encourages all of us to hear what God is doing in your life. But lets never forget there are others outside the church who need to hear our story.  If God is doing a work in you then He will also do a work through you.  The work He will do through you is for you to tell others what He is doing in you and that will be "your story."