PASS IT ON As you know these articles are written ahead of time. This one is a few days before Father’s Day. On Father’s day Sandy and I will be in Thomaston, Georgia visiting my son and his family. He is the pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Thomaston. A couple of weeks ago he called
and said,”Dad, you are going to be here for Father’s Day aren’t you.” And I
said, “Yes”. He said, “I have an
idea. Why don’t we preach a sermon
together at my church?” I was deeply touched and said it would be
wonderful. What an honor! I have had Chris preach at my church and I
have preached at his former church but we have never done this together. As
we thought about this day, Chris gave me the topic of passing on the
faith. As I thought about it, how do
you pass on the faith? I’m sure we
have all heard the cliché that God doesn’t have any grandchildren, only
children. So how do you and I come to
faith in Jesus Christ? It happens
through relationships. We
were with some friends last week and were talking about how I was going to
preach with Chris and I asked them about passing on the faith. Here is what
one of them said. “Share the gospel of Jesus every day and if you have to
talk about it” Perhaps in the end the old cliché is true, faith is not given
but caught. It’s a relationship. John Wooden the great basketball coach from UCLA just died. Since basketball was my life growing up, I remember watching UCLA as they won game after game. John Wooden will always be remembered for winning 10 NCAA championships in 12 years, but who he was as far more important. His players remember him not for how he coached but for who he was. He had wonderful way of communicating values to them. Here are some that offer special insights for us as we seek to pass on the faith 1"The worst thing about new books is that they keep us from reading the old one." Don't forget that Christ and the Word must be at the center of all you do. 2."Material possessions, winning scores, and great reputations are meaningless in the eyes of the Lord, because He knows what we really are and that is all that matters." There are far more important measures of a church than attendance, buildings and cash. 3."The main ingredient of stardom is the rest of the team." Today, people want to be the church, not simply go to church. 4."You can't live a perfect day without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you." To be credible, the church must be a living sacrifice outside its own walls. Sometimes faith is a verb. It
encourages you to go out to do great things. But other times faith is a noun.
It is the tradition that we have received, and we are called to pass on to
the next generation. Four ministers were talking one day about translations of the Bible. One said, "I like the King James Version best. The beauty of the language and the rhythm of the cadence is unsurpassed." Another said, "I like the Revised Standard Version because it is the closest to the actual Greek and Hebrew tongues." Another said, "I like the New International Version because it is easy to read." The fourth thought a moment and then he said, "Of all the translations, I think I like my father's the best." One said, "You mean your father has translated the Bible?" He said, "Oh yes, everyday he translated the Bible to me in his life of love, compassion, forgiveness and sacrifice. Because of his translation, I trusted Jesus Christ as my Savior." How about you. How do you translate the faith to others. You may be the only Bible somebody reads. Pastor
“Pete” |
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