Word for Today, Mon, Faith and Object Lessons

#1 · November 19, 2001, 8:53 am

Quote from Forum Archives on November 19, 2001, 8:53 am
Posted by: masinick <masinick@...>

Dear friends,

I'd like to share two messages with you: another writing that was
forwarded to me from Tina Rosario (authorship unknown), and
Monday's devotional message from Neil Anderson. Tina's message
is a story with an object lesson. Neil's message is about how
faith affects our lives. I think that the object lesson and
Neil's devotional message are related. What do YOU think?

Your Brother in Christ,
Brian

Subject: Object Lesson

Subject: FW: Object lesson

A young lady named Sally, relates an experience she had in a
Seminary Class, given by her teacher, Dr. Smith. She says Dr.
Smith was known for his elaborate object lessons. One particular
day, Sally walked into the seminary and knew they were in for a
fun day. On the wall was a big target and on a nearby table were
many darts.

Dr. Smith told the students to draw a picture of someone that
they disliked or someone who had made them angry, and he would
allow them to throw darts at the person's picture. Sally's
girlfriend drew a picture of a girl who had stolen her boyfriend.
Another friend drew a picture of his little brother.

Sally drew a picture of a former friend, putting a great deal of
detail into her drawing, even drawing pimples on the face. Sally
was pleased at the overall effect she had achieved.

The class lined up and began throwing darts, with much laughter
and hilarity. Some of the students threw their darts with such
force that targets were ripping apart.

Sally looked forward to her turn, and was filled with
disappointment when Dr. Smith, because of time limits, asked the
students to return to their seats. As Sally sat thinking about
how angry she was because she didn't have a chance to throw any
darts at her target, Dr. Smith began removing the target from
the wall. Underneath the target was a picture of Jesus A
complete hush fell over the room as each student viewed the
mangled picture of Jesus; holes and jagged marks covered His face
and His eyes were pierced.

Dr. Smith said only these words. "In as much as ye have done it
unto the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto Me."
Matthew 25:40. No other words were necessary; the tear-filled
eyes of each student focused only on the picture of Christ.

==========================================================
Reply-to: Neil Anderson <neilanderson@lists.crosswalk.com>
Subject: Neil Anderson Devotional for Monday, November 19, 2001
Date: Mon, 19 Nov 2001 05:03:19 -0500

If you are looking to feed and challenge your faith, visit
Crosswalk.com's Spiritual Life Channel at:
spiritual.crosswalk.com
-----------
N E I L A N D E R S O N D A I L Y D E V O T I O N A L
from Freedom in Christ Ministries

November 19

HOW FAITH AFFECTS OUR LIVES

For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of
yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that
no one should boast (Ephesians 2:8, 9).

After Jesus claimed to be sent by God, some were seeking to seize
Him, having come to the conclusion that He was not a good man.
But others did believe in Him, "and they were saying, 'When the
Christ shall come, He will not perform more signs than those
which this man has, will He?'" (John 7:31). All the evidence was
there. Some chose to believe; others chose not to. People do
the same today. Faith is a choice. We choose to believe or not
believe.

Faith is the operating principle of life. It is the means by
which we relate to God and live our lives in freedom. Notice the
variety of ways stated in Scripture by which faith affects our
lives.

First, we are saved by faith (Ephesians 2:8, 9).

Second, we "walk by faith, not by sight" (2 Corinthians 5:7).

Third, being found faithful is a prerequisite for ministry: "I
thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He
considered me faithful, putting me into service" (1 Timothy
1:12). Paul then adds, "And the things which you have heard from
me in the presence of many witnesses, these entrust to faithful
men, who will be able to teach others also" (2 Timothy 2:2).
This is more than being reliable, since a person could be counted
on to follow through on an assignment and not be a believer. The
added ingredient in faithful people is that they know the truth
and can be counted on to be reliable.

Fourth, the quality of any relationship is determined by faith or
trust: "Many a man proclaims his own loyalty, but who can find a
trustworthy man?" (Proverbs 20:6). The words faith, trust and
believe are all the same word (pistis) in the original language.
The man who has faith believes in something. The one who
believes also trusts, or he doesn't truly believe. There is no
concept that looms larger in life than faith because what we
believe determines how we live.

Lord, I affirm that I cannot please You without faith. I choose
today to believe in You and trust in Your name.

-----------
This daily devotional is published and distributed by
Crosswalk.com. It is written by Neil Anderson at
< www.ficm.org >.

You can purchase "Daily in Christ" and other titles by Neil
Anderson at christianbook.com (Christian Book Distributors -
CBD). < shopping.crosswalk.com/bye/devo_na >

Additional devotionals are available from Crosswalk.com:
< devotionals.crosswalk.com >.

-----------
To read the Current Feature Story from ReligionToday, go to
religiontoday.crosswalk.com/CurrentFeatureStory/

For today's complete News Summary from ReligionToday, go to
religiontoday.crosswalk.com/CurrentNewsSummary/

-----------
For Copyright Terms go to
www.crosswalk.com/info/copyright

____________________SUBSCRIPTION INFO_______________________
* To subscribe, send an email to:
< SUBSCRIBE-neilanderson@lists.crosswalk.com >
or go to < www.crosswalk.com/lists > for a complete list
of our newsletters.
* Copyright 2001 Crosswalk.com, Inc. and its Content
Providers. All rights reserved.

____________________________________________________________

=====
--
Brian Masinick, "The Mas", mailto:masinick@yahoo.com
Home page: www.geocities.com/masinick/

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Find the one for you at Yahoo! Personals
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Posted by: masinick <masinick@...>

Dear friends,

I'd like to share two messages with you: another writing that was
forwarded to me from Tina Rosario (authorship unknown), and
Monday's devotional message from Neil Anderson. Tina's message
is a story with an object lesson. Neil's message is about how
faith affects our lives. I think that the object lesson and
Neil's devotional message are related. What do YOU think?

Your Brother in Christ,
Brian

Subject: Object Lesson

Subject: FW: Object lesson

A young lady named Sally, relates an experience she had in a
Seminary Class, given by her teacher, Dr. Smith. She says Dr.
Smith was known for his elaborate object lessons. One particular
day, Sally walked into the seminary and knew they were in for a
fun day. On the wall was a big target and on a nearby table were
many darts.

Dr. Smith told the students to draw a picture of someone that
they disliked or someone who had made them angry, and he would
allow them to throw darts at the person's picture. Sally's
girlfriend drew a picture of a girl who had stolen her boyfriend.
Another friend drew a picture of his little brother.

Sally drew a picture of a former friend, putting a great deal of
detail into her drawing, even drawing pimples on the face. Sally
was pleased at the overall effect she had achieved.

The class lined up and began throwing darts, with much laughter
and hilarity. Some of the students threw their darts with such
force that targets were ripping apart.

Sally looked forward to her turn, and was filled with
disappointment when Dr. Smith, because of time limits, asked the
students to return to their seats. As Sally sat thinking about
how angry she was because she didn't have a chance to throw any
darts at her target, Dr. Smith began removing the target from
the wall. Underneath the target was a picture of Jesus A
complete hush fell over the room as each student viewed the
mangled picture of Jesus; holes and jagged marks covered His face
and His eyes were pierced.

Dr. Smith said only these words. "In as much as ye have done it
unto the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto Me."
Matthew 25:40. No other words were necessary; the tear-filled
eyes of each student focused only on the picture of Christ.

==========================================================
Reply-to: Neil Anderson <neilanderson@lists.crosswalk.com>
Subject: Neil Anderson Devotional for Monday, November 19, 2001
Date: Mon, 19 Nov 2001 05:03:19 -0500

If you are looking to feed and challenge your faith, visit
Crosswalk.com's Spiritual Life Channel at:
spiritual.crosswalk.com
-----------
N E I L A N D E R S O N D A I L Y D E V O T I O N A L
from Freedom in Christ Ministries

November 19

HOW FAITH AFFECTS OUR LIVES

For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of
yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that
no one should boast (Ephesians 2:8, 9).

After Jesus claimed to be sent by God, some were seeking to seize
Him, having come to the conclusion that He was not a good man.
But others did believe in Him, "and they were saying, 'When the
Christ shall come, He will not perform more signs than those
which this man has, will He?'" (John 7:31). All the evidence was
there. Some chose to believe; others chose not to. People do
the same today. Faith is a choice. We choose to believe or not
believe.

Faith is the operating principle of life. It is the means by
which we relate to God and live our lives in freedom. Notice the
variety of ways stated in Scripture by which faith affects our
lives.

First, we are saved by faith (Ephesians 2:8, 9).

Second, we "walk by faith, not by sight" (2 Corinthians 5:7).

Third, being found faithful is a prerequisite for ministry: "I
thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He
considered me faithful, putting me into service" (1 Timothy
1:12). Paul then adds, "And the things which you have heard from
me in the presence of many witnesses, these entrust to faithful
men, who will be able to teach others also" (2 Timothy 2:2).
This is more than being reliable, since a person could be counted
on to follow through on an assignment and not be a believer. The
added ingredient in faithful people is that they know the truth
and can be counted on to be reliable.

Fourth, the quality of any relationship is determined by faith or
trust: "Many a man proclaims his own loyalty, but who can find a
trustworthy man?" (Proverbs 20:6). The words faith, trust and
believe are all the same word (pistis) in the original language.
The man who has faith believes in something. The one who
believes also trusts, or he doesn't truly believe. There is no
concept that looms larger in life than faith because what we
believe determines how we live.

Lord, I affirm that I cannot please You without faith. I choose
today to believe in You and trust in Your name.

-----------
This daily devotional is published and distributed by
Crosswalk.com. It is written by Neil Anderson at
< http://www.ficm.org >.

You can purchase "Daily in Christ" and other titles by Neil
Anderson at christianbook.com (Christian Book Distributors -
CBD). < shopping.crosswalk.com/bye/devo_na >

Additional devotionals are available from Crosswalk.com:
< devotionals.crosswalk.com >.

-----------
To read the Current Feature Story from ReligionToday, go to
religiontoday.crosswalk.com/CurrentFeatureStory/

For today's complete News Summary from ReligionToday, go to
religiontoday.crosswalk.com/CurrentNewsSummary/

-----------
For Copyright Terms go to
http://www.crosswalk.com/info/copyright

____________________SUBSCRIPTION INFO_______________________
* To subscribe, send an email to:
< SUBSCRIBE-neilanderson@lists.crosswalk.com >
or go to < http://www.crosswalk.com/lists > for a complete list
of our newsletters.
* Copyright 2001 Crosswalk.com, Inc. and its Content
Providers. All rights reserved.

____________________________________________________________

=====
--
Brian Masinick, "The Mas", mailto:masinick@yahoo.com
Home page: http://www.geocities.com/masinick/

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Find the one for you at Yahoo! Personals
personals.yahoo.com