When attending a recent firstBible International meeting, Brother Edward Barclay III presented the core value of our new Bible translation graduate program, FirstBible School of Translation (FBST), scheduled to launch in the fall of 2020. When doing so, Brother Barclay spoke of faithfulness and the need to train and send out "gospel-centric" men and women for the work of reaching the unreached with God's Word. I began to ponder this phrase "gospel-centric". What does a gospel-centric Christian look like? How does a gospel-centric believer behave?
This year we introduced Following JESUS as our motto, our theme, and our purpose. This is a reminder of when Jesus said to those with whom He desired to have a relationship, "Follow me, ..." (Matthew 4:19). It is our "... whosoever will, ..." may come (Revelation 22:17). It is our assignment to "... Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel ..." (Mark 16:15). Our first thought every day should be that today I have the opportunity of following Jesus and becoming what He desires for me to become for Himself.
The book of Ecclesiastes is quickly becoming one of my favorite books of the Bible. The more I teach from it, the more I learn and appreciate its content. I am currently teaching through Ecclesiastes in my LifeGroup and a few weeks ago, we had a lesson that really made an impact on me personally. I'd like to share a simple, but powerful, thought from this lesson and I hope it is as much of a help to you as it has been to me.
Fifty years ago this past Saturday, on July 20, 1969, the United States put Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the surface of the moon. God, in His wonder and might as well as His wisdom and care, purposely and lovingly created the moon in our near universe. Mankind has always seen it and wondered at its workings and marveled at its tendencies. As with all creation, the moon is a natural revelation to the existence of our almighty God.
When my wife was just a child, her dad owned a dry cleaning business and also cleaned apartments. Her dad would often make this statement to his two children: "The family that prays together, stays together; and the family that works together, eats." These were words of wisdom that unified the family for a common goal.
