Greetings!
Covering a variety of topics this week. I hope at least one fancies your tickle!
- Living your faith in the workplace
Dave Ramsey on Facebook shared an article that is posted on Stewardship.com called “3 Ways to Live Out Your Faith Instead of Preaching About It.” I encourage you to read it and be encouraged by it.
One thing I would add is, along with all three excellent suggestions, don’t let it stop with these three points. Something that is recently emphasized at my church, as well as other churches and Gospel ministries, is make a point to share the Gospel with your co-workers. Working as worship, being hopeful and optimistic and investing in people are definitely part of the game plan, but they will still fall short of the ultimate objective, which is making disciples (Matt. 28:19).
I pray for boldness for you and me, that we don’t think we done all we can do until we have shared the Gospel message with everybody we know.
- Waxing eloquently on debunking an ancient analogy
Trevin Wax, one of my favorite bloggers, shared an excellent perspective on a popular tale. The story is about a group of blind men who were asked to describe an elephant. One said the animal is smooth and big like a wall. Another said he is round like a snake, and so on and so forth.
I’ve heard this used as a sermon illustration in the past, applying it to why there are different presentations of the Gospel in the New Testament. I didn’t realize the illustration is adapted from an emphasis for how religious diversity can be tolerated.
Check out Wax’s piece here about how the story applied to making world religions valid has flaws.
- Oklahoma Baptists serving Louisiana flood victims
A team of Oklahoma Baptist Disaster Relief volunteers have been serving more than 70,000 meals in the last week in the Baton Rouge area. DR volunteers are expected to serve through the month of September. Please pray for them, as they are battling severe heat, and they need more help to serve.
For more information check out www.okdisasterhelp.org
- Ben-Hur banter
I’m usually a movie purist, not a big fan of remakes. Once in awhile the remake will outshine the original, but odds are against it.
Last week, Ben-Hur debuted in the theaters. It wasn’t expected to be well received, but after reading Karen Kinnaird’s review, I might give it a gander. K-LOVE also has been high on it too.
Two things that appeal to me are that it’s not as long as the Chuck Heston version and it features more distinct references to Jesus.
If I do go see it, I’ll let you know.
- Spurgeon sayings spoiled
I had the privilege of meeting Christian George a few years ago. He’s a brilliant speaker and an expert on anything related to Charles Spurgeon, the well-known English preacher.
I enjoyed reading his piece on “Six Things Spurgeon Didn’t Say.” To be honest, I am only familiar with two of the quotes on this list, which is the first one, from a familiar Christian song, and the last one, which I have seen quoted many times.
I have great respect for Dr. George, and I definitely enjoyed visiting with him in the past. If you ever have the chance to visit the Spurgeon Library in Kansas City, Mo., and meet Dr. George, I think you will be impressed with him as well.
- Olympians overload
Now that the Rio Olympic Games are over, we go back to regular life. Although, we do see Olympians enjoying more exposure after their success. The U.S. Women’s Gymnastics team is playing a life-size version of Hungry, Hungry Hippos with Jimmy Fallon on the Tonight Show. I’ve heard Michael Phelps is going to be a guest host on America’s Got Talent.
One of my favorite public appearances was watching Katie Ledecky throw out the first pitch at the Baltimore-Washington baseball game, with Nationals player Bryce Harper being handed all her medals before Katie throws a strike over the plate. Read about it here.
There are other great reports coming out of Rio of Christians sharing the Gospel. Baptist Press shares about these evangelistic experiences. Check out “Baptist volunteers share Jesus, see lives changed.”
Another great BP story recapping the Olympics is “God praised by athletes in triumph, defeat.”