Have you seen the latest ads where a lost connection with a girl friend or
a boss leads to some very serious faulty communication? Of course, Cingular
wants us to believe that they make and maintain the best cell phone connections,
but I'm concerned about a far more serious failure to make and maintain a
connection. Are we making and maintaining connections for Jesus?
Recently, I had the privilege of celebrating Southern Bible Institutes’
80th birthday at a gala at the Anatole hotel in Dallas, Texas. While we waited
for the first course, a drama introduced us to how the school was founded
A white street preacher was waxing eloquent from a text of Scripture when
an African American approached him. “I want to learn to preach from
the Bible like you!” The street preacher stepped back and turned even
whiter with fright. It was 1927 and whites and blacks did not connect, even
if it was about the Bible.
The black believer recounted his encounter with the street preacher with his
brothers and shared his passion to learn the bible. “It’s God’s
will! Black preachers need a school where they can be trained in the exposition
of God’s inspired Word.” “Are you crazy?” they responded.
“Never happen! And quit scaring that white preacher. A Bible
Institute for blacks? Never!”
From the perspective of 2007 I shook my head at the hardness and pride that
kept African-Americans out of many of our own Bible-based schools. But it’s
easy to see this major speck in our brothers’ eyes in 1927. What about
our failures to make connections with people about Jesus across racial, religious,
and social divides in our own lives? We need to do this with both words and
deeds.
The Apostle Paul wrote the entire letter to the Romans because he had a passion
to present the good news about Jesus to those who had never heard it. Spain
was the Wild West of the first century and this is where Paul wanted to go
next to proclaim the Gospel. To do this he needed a base of operations in
Rome; therefore he wrote the letter to begin to build this base of support
(check out Romans 15:17ff). He did build this base, but he did far more. He
challenges us in 2007 --
to remember that there is eternal power in the Gospel. Romans 1:16-17
to bridge the Ivy League –Redneck divide. Romans 1:14-15
to bridge the racial divide. Romans 1:16
Think about it:
“If we somehow discovered the cure to the real disease of cancer, we’d
share it with everyone, wouldn’t we? We’d “force our beliefs
on cancer victims out of love. We wouldn’t just say, ‘I’ll
just live out the cure and hope that cancer victims see the cure in me.’
Well, guess what? Those around us who don’t know Jesus have something
infinitely worse than cancer and are headed somewhere infinitely worse than
death.
And we have the cure.” Greg Stier, Outreachmagazine.com
Go to http://dare2share.org/gospeljourney
for a simple guide to help you share your faith.
In 1927 Dr. Edmund H. Ironside, the brother of the famous pastor of Moody
Church, Dr. H.A. Ironside, did reach across the racial divide, and that is
why I was attending the 80th anniversary of the founding of the Southern Bible
Institute.
What divide do you need to bridge this week to bring the gospel to another?
It’s time to stop separating our mouth from our hands and feet. Like
Paul, we need to allow the power of the Spirit to proclaim the Gospel of grace
in word and deed.
Because of His grace,
Dave Wyrtzen