BBD 11.05.07 Every Day, Every Week, or Never?

#1 · November 6, 2007, 1:33 am

Quote from Forum Archives on November 6, 2007, 1:33 am
Posted by: wrather <wrather@...>

Visit the Burning Bush websites:

www.theburningbush.net

www.theburningbush.org

Join the Burning Bush Prayer Group! Send and receive prayer requests and be
a part of a great ministry. More than 300 wonderful people make up this
group. To join send an email to: BBPG-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Be a part of the Burning Bush Community! Share prayer requests,
inspirational material, find help for addictions, and help others. Find out
more at the Burning Bush Community webpage:
www.theburningbush.net/pages.asp?pageid=37647

Several devotional booklets are available for free download in PDF format at
the new site. Just click on the "Free Book Downloads" link.

Join facebook.com and be my friend. Use the facebook search feature to find
me (Ed Wrather) and then add me as your friend (Click the link on the right
hand side.). So far through this effort at least one person has been saved
and God has had the opportunity to touch lives that would not otherwise have
been possible.

The Burning Bush Devotional

Welcome to the 1476 new subscribers since January 1, 2007!!

11.05.07

Every Day, Every Week, or Never?

But when His brothers had gone up, then He also went up to the feast, not
openly, but as it were in secret. Then the Jews sought Him at the feast, and
said, "Where is He?" And there was much complaining among the people
concerning Him. Some said, "He is good"; others said, "No, on the contrary,
He deceives the people." However, no one spoke openly of Him for fear of the
Jews. - John 7:10-13.

How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how
shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they
hear without a preacher? - Romans 10:14.

"I believe that if an angel were to wing his way from earth up to Heaven,
and were to say that there was one poor, ragged boy, without father or
mother, with no one to care for him and teach him the way of life; and if
God were to ask who among them were willing to come down to this earth and
live here for fifty years and lead that one to Jesus Christ, every angel in
Heaven would volunteer to go. Even Gabriel, who stands in the presence of
the Almighty, would say, 'Let me leave my high and lofty position, and let
me have the luxury of leading one soul to Jesus Christ.' There is no greater
honor than to be the instrument in God's hands of leading one person out of
the kingdom of Satan into the glorious light of Heaven." - Dwight L. Moody
(Great evangelist of the last half of the 19th Century.)

What is it that keeps us from sharing our faith with others? The Jews that
believed in Jesus were kept from talking with others openly about Jesus
because of their fear. Are we afraid that we might be killed if we witness,
share our faith with someone? Possibly, in some parts of the world but not
in most. Is it that we are simply too lazy to share our faith? Is it that we
are embarrassed of our faith? Is it because no one has held us accountable
for sharing our faith?

Dwight L. Moody had a commitment to witnessing. His commitment was that he
was going to personally witness to someone every day. At a local missions
conference a missionary from Mozambique shared at our church last night.
David Hooten shared that he trains new Christians to be trainers themselves.
Every week those new Christians meet with David and the first question they
are asked is this: "Who did you witness to this week?" They are then
expected to share and to share the results of their witnessing effort.
Everyone in the group is confronted with this question and must share about
who they witnessed to and what happened.

What would happen in our churches if we were to hold every one who made up
those churches accountable? What would happen if you knew when you went to
church you would be expected to report on your witnessing activities for the
past week? If we were to implement this in our churches in the United
States, I believe at first there would be a dramatic reduction in church
attendance. However, I believe that after all those insincere, lazy people
had left, the church would then begin to grow at an exponential rate.

Let me ask you a question. Do you witness to someone every day, every week,
or never? If you are in the never category but you do have a desire to
witness, to share your faith, there are some things that you can do. Begin
by writing down on paper what happened when you came to know Jesus as your
personal Savior. Describe what your life was like before you made that
decision and then describe how your life changed after the decision. That is
your testimony. Next practice verbally telling that testimony. Practice
telling the testimony to a friend or a family member. Next, begin to pray
for opportunities to share your testimony. Look for opportunities to share
your testimony, and make opportunities to share your testimony. God will use
you if you do.

Copyright © 2007. Ed Wrather. Permission is given for use of the devotionals
on a non-profit basis with source credited. The Burning Bush website has
been online since January 31, 1998. On June 8, 1998 the email version of the
Burning Bush Devotional was first sent.

Prayer Requests: Please pray for Malachi a young boy with cancer. The cancer
in Malachi's bone marrow has reoccurred. Malachi is now in San Francisco for
additional treatment.

Many prayer needs are posted at the Burning Bush website on the Prayer
Request page. You can also post your prayer requests there and they will be
forwarded to the Burning Bush Prayer Group (Of course, I am always in need
of prayer - please pray for me.).

If you enjoy the devotional please recommend it to your friends. They may
subscribe by sending a blank email to
burningbushdevo-subscribe@welovegod.org

Streaming Videos of some of my sermons are posted at:
www.theburningbush.org/fbcswvideo.html

There is a complete devotional archive at the old Burning Bush website. Here
is the URL: www.theburningbush.org/33.html.

You can unsubscribe to the pure text version of the devotional by sending a
blank email to burningbushdevo-unsubscribe@welovegod.org and then respond to
the confirmation email.

You may subscribe to the html text group by sending a blank email to
burningbushhtml-subscribe@welovegod.org and you may unsubscribe by sending a
blank email to burningbushhtml-unsubscribe@welovegod.org and then respond to
the confirmation email.

Posted by: wrather <wrather@...>

Visit the Burning Bush websites:

http://www.theburningbush.net

http://www.theburningbush.org

Join the Burning Bush Prayer Group! Send and receive prayer requests and be
a part of a great ministry. More than 300 wonderful people make up this
group. To join send an email to: BBPG-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Be a part of the Burning Bush Community! Share prayer requests,
inspirational material, find help for addictions, and help others. Find out
more at the Burning Bush Community webpage:
http://www.theburningbush.net/pages.asp?pageid=37647

Several devotional booklets are available for free download in PDF format at
the new site. Just click on the "Free Book Downloads" link.

Join facebook.com and be my friend. Use the facebook search feature to find
me (Ed Wrather) and then add me as your friend (Click the link on the right
hand side.). So far through this effort at least one person has been saved
and God has had the opportunity to touch lives that would not otherwise have
been possible.

The Burning Bush Devotional

Welcome to the 1476 new subscribers since January 1, 2007!!

11.05.07

Every Day, Every Week, or Never?

But when His brothers had gone up, then He also went up to the feast, not
openly, but as it were in secret. Then the Jews sought Him at the feast, and
said, "Where is He?" And there was much complaining among the people
concerning Him. Some said, "He is good"; others said, "No, on the contrary,
He deceives the people." However, no one spoke openly of Him for fear of the
Jews. - John 7:10-13.

How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how
shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they
hear without a preacher? - Romans 10:14.

"I believe that if an angel were to wing his way from earth up to Heaven,
and were to say that there was one poor, ragged boy, without father or
mother, with no one to care for him and teach him the way of life; and if
God were to ask who among them were willing to come down to this earth and
live here for fifty years and lead that one to Jesus Christ, every angel in
Heaven would volunteer to go. Even Gabriel, who stands in the presence of
the Almighty, would say, 'Let me leave my high and lofty position, and let
me have the luxury of leading one soul to Jesus Christ.' There is no greater
honor than to be the instrument in God's hands of leading one person out of
the kingdom of Satan into the glorious light of Heaven." - Dwight L. Moody
(Great evangelist of the last half of the 19th Century.)

What is it that keeps us from sharing our faith with others? The Jews that
believed in Jesus were kept from talking with others openly about Jesus
because of their fear. Are we afraid that we might be killed if we witness,
share our faith with someone? Possibly, in some parts of the world but not
in most. Is it that we are simply too lazy to share our faith? Is it that we
are embarrassed of our faith? Is it because no one has held us accountable
for sharing our faith?

Dwight L. Moody had a commitment to witnessing. His commitment was that he
was going to personally witness to someone every day. At a local missions
conference a missionary from Mozambique shared at our church last night.
David Hooten shared that he trains new Christians to be trainers themselves.
Every week those new Christians meet with David and the first question they
are asked is this: "Who did you witness to this week?" They are then
expected to share and to share the results of their witnessing effort.
Everyone in the group is confronted with this question and must share about
who they witnessed to and what happened.

What would happen in our churches if we were to hold every one who made up
those churches accountable? What would happen if you knew when you went to
church you would be expected to report on your witnessing activities for the
past week? If we were to implement this in our churches in the United
States, I believe at first there would be a dramatic reduction in church
attendance. However, I believe that after all those insincere, lazy people
had left, the church would then begin to grow at an exponential rate.

Let me ask you a question. Do you witness to someone every day, every week,
or never? If you are in the never category but you do have a desire to
witness, to share your faith, there are some things that you can do. Begin
by writing down on paper what happened when you came to know Jesus as your
personal Savior. Describe what your life was like before you made that
decision and then describe how your life changed after the decision. That is
your testimony. Next practice verbally telling that testimony. Practice
telling the testimony to a friend or a family member. Next, begin to pray
for opportunities to share your testimony. Look for opportunities to share
your testimony, and make opportunities to share your testimony. God will use
you if you do.

Copyright © 2007. Ed Wrather. Permission is given for use of the devotionals
on a non-profit basis with source credited. The Burning Bush website has
been online since January 31, 1998. On June 8, 1998 the email version of the
Burning Bush Devotional was first sent.

Prayer Requests: Please pray for Malachi a young boy with cancer. The cancer
in Malachi's bone marrow has reoccurred. Malachi is now in San Francisco for
additional treatment.

Many prayer needs are posted at the Burning Bush website on the Prayer
Request page. You can also post your prayer requests there and they will be
forwarded to the Burning Bush Prayer Group (Of course, I am always in need
of prayer - please pray for me.).

If you enjoy the devotional please recommend it to your friends. They may
subscribe by sending a blank email to
burningbushdevo-subscribe@welovegod.org

Streaming Videos of some of my sermons are posted at:
http://www.theburningbush.org/fbcswvideo.html

There is a complete devotional archive at the old Burning Bush website. Here
is the URL: http://www.theburningbush.org/33.html.

You can unsubscribe to the pure text version of the devotional by sending a
blank email to burningbushdevo-unsubscribe@welovegod.org and then respond to
the confirmation email.

You may subscribe to the html text group by sending a blank email to
burningbushhtml-subscribe@welovegod.org and you may unsubscribe by sending a
blank email to burningbushhtml-unsubscribe@welovegod.org and then respond to
the confirmation email.