Times and Task (Continuation) Reading: Nehemiah 2 By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another (Jn 13:35) Let us continue our meditation started yesterday on Church unity. Make people understand the emergency of the hour. Our congregations have not been informed enough, hence not been inspired enough, from the pulpits. Neither is anything said with any clarity. If the trumpet makes an uncertain sound, who will prepare for battle? (1 Cor 14:8). Under the leadership of Nehemiah we find that all the people gathered together AS ONE MAN (Neh 8:1). How did it happen? Nehemiah explained to the leaders and the people the gravity of the situation and challenged them about the need of the hour. The people caught the spirit of the leader and responded positively and overwhelmingly (Neh 2:17,18; 4:6). Greater the challenge deeper the commitment! Leaders of Gods people must have one hand on the Bible and the other on the newspaper. Only when they interpret the message of the Bible against the background of the news of the world, they will be relevant on the pulpit. This will give prophetic edge to their sermons. Use Evangelism for a common platform. In these days of consensus, coalition and common minimum programmes it is appropriate that we learn to sink differences, hold hands together and carry out the Lords Great Commission. Evangelism is a great unifier. The story is told about some crewmen who were fighting against each other aboard a ship. But when they watched a passenger inadvertently falling into the sea, they forgot their fight and got united in their efforts to rescue the man. This is what evangelism does. The realisation of the supremacy and the urgency of the task makes us forget our petty differences and put our heads and shoulders together to finish the work. The ultimate purpose of unity among Gods people on earth is to leave an impact on the world with the message of the Cross (Jn 17:20,21). Engaging ourselves with the evangelistic efforts of other Churches and organisations to whatever extent possible paves way to bring us all quickly to unity (Eph 4:12,13).
Posted on: Sun, 06 Jul 2014 13:38:28 +0000
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