That's the "battle cry" of the missionary Turn the Tide Ministries.
ALL ABOARD! This train is leaving the station!
Christ is coming - SOON! No one knows the day or the hour, but we are called to be watching, praying and READY TO GO!
If you spend any time in a Bible believing church or hanging around Christians who take the word of God seriously, you are sure to hear about "The Great Commission".
The very last instruction, recorded in the Bible, that Jesus gave His disciples is found in Acts 1:8:
"But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
The call to action from the Lord Himself to all who claim Him as Lord and Savior is BE WITNESSES TO HIM.
A fast grammar lesson for those
of us who haven't been in school for awhile :-)
to:
a preposition;
=used
to indicate the place, person or thing that someone or something moves toward
=used
to indicate the place where someone participates in a particular activity
=used to indicate the direction
of something
Then there is the preposition “of”
which is often substituted for the word “to” as if they were completely
compatibly interchangeable.
Of: a preposition;
=belong to, relating to or
connected with someone or something
=used to indicate that someone
or something belongs to a group of people or things
=living in or occurring in a
specific country, city, town etc
I realize that every translation of the Holy Scriptures is just that, a translation. I realize that we don't have the "original" theo pneustis (sp.?) that is the original God-breathed word, but in delving deeper into the meanings of words even as they were translated, we gain greater insight and are then in a place to be led by the Holy Spirit into deeper, more perfect meaning in our manifesting of Gods Word.
In this instance, I love that if we were called to be witnesses "of" Christ, just being a Christian would suffice, for we do belong to and are connected with the Body of Christ simply by virtue of our being "saved" or "born again" or whatever vernacular you use to indicate your Christian state.
But to be witnesses "to" Christ requires ACTION on our part! That Holy Spirit in you (Colossians 1:27) means you must DO SOMETHING about sharing the witness of Christ and His Salvation Gift with others. You can't be content to simply know YOU are part of....instead we ought to foster a zealous energy and hold a deep compassion for the state of others that compels us to make this Salvation Gift known to them!
ALL ABOARD! Time is short, and no one is promised a moments breath beyond the one they are currently inhaling. Our time on this earth is but a blink of the eye, but ETERNITY? Those who insist on reason and/or logic to consider Faith in Christ, reason and logic this; there is NO DOUBT every person ever born and who will ever be born will live a certain amount of time and then the body will die. That is absolute. The spirit of man was created by God to be an eternal entity. The question is not "will you have Eternal Life"; you will. The question that faith and faith alone can answer is:
Will you spend eternity in darkness and torment or -
will you spend Eternity in the Light, Love and Presence of the very One Who Created You in His Own Image?
We can sit still and claim we are witnesses "of" Christ by our belief in salvation or we can get cracking about being witnesses "TO" Christ by our deliberate, motivated actions to share the salvation message with others!
ALL ABOARD! Our dream is to share His Grace, Love and Hope with others. You can join us. Pray for this ministry - we need prayer for strength to stay the course until He calls us home.
Send us your prayer requests! (Form is upper left corner of the site) It is our privilege to pray for you!
Get on board, Christ is coming soon!
1 comment:
Good challenge. Please pray for a pastors' and key lay leaders' Lunch being held January 8-10 at my home Church, First Church West in Tamarac. I would like to see ten churches represented, which would represent twenty to thirty people.
Let me add a little something "to" your article. It is said that only 7% of a communication comes from our words. That means that 93% is non verbal. Many pastors jump on this to tell their folks just to love people into the kingdom. I fear that most do this because they are not equipped and/or are not willing to painstakingly teach and show their people how to communicate the words. (As you guys did with me.) However, look at the ingredients in a spray can. You will see that the active ingredients are dwarfed by the inert ingredients. Pastors! The inert ingredients (love) are there to deliver the active ingredient. Your people know how to love, probably better than you. Your job is to teach them how to say the words!
In Christ's Mercy
Rev. Bill McClain, D.MIn.
772-979-1376
EXCELLENT observation Bill! Active is the operative word, isn't it?!?
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