Friday, November 06, 2009

"What's your Foundation?"

Today's reading - Acts 11:19-21 (NIV): 19Now those who had been scattered by the persecution in connection with Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, telling the message only to Jews. 20Some of them, however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus. 21The Lord's hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord.

I love it when someone takes a risk, especially one that they don’t believe they can do, myself included. As a lay speaker I am asked to speak occasionally, sometimes to preach, sometimes to teach and other times to leader. There have been times I know that I have just run off at the mouth and not said anything. I pray there have been some times that what I said was helpful.

My walk with the Lord began over twenty years ago and wow have I taken a lot of risks. I’ll never forget the first time I sat down at Disciple I bible study led by Bill Koch, our pastor at the time and now a DS somewhere in Mo. I was ashamed and frightened. But somehow I made it through and went on to complete all four Disciple studies, the two next generation Disciple studies and have led Disciple studies several times.

It takes this type of foundation to be able to take the risk to do something out of the ordinary. Talking to the Jews and the Greeks about Jesus was risky business. Their foundation was the Lords hand! They accepted the hand of the Lord and their confidence was shattered no more. The scripture tells us the result of their willingness to risk – a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord.

Remember for a moment what your foundation was. Mine was bible study, maybe yours was a spiritual weekend retreat, a series of sermon’s that changed your life, a friend or mentor that walked with you in the early part of your walk. Now praise God for providing that foundation and go out and share the gospel of Jesus Christ!

Many thanks to Bill Koch for believing in me and telling me there are no dumb questions.

Dorothy Drago Brucks
Aldersgate UMC
Nixa, Mo.

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