a easy way out
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A U. S. N a v y p il o t died recently when his fighter -¿A - plane crashed into a large store in Pennsylvania. By a miracle no one else was killed. Newspaper accounts stated that he “ . . . could have tried to bail out,” because “ . . . the easy way for the pilot is to bail out and let the aircraft fall where it may.” But Lt. Cmdr. Haven “ did not choose the easy way out.” The easy way may be the safe way even to the saving of one’s own life, but here a brave airman died because he refused to choose the easy way and permit his aircraft to plunge down uncontrolled and possibly cause greater catastrophe. He stayed with his machine, guiding it no doubt as best he could, with the result that his life alone was lost. There is always an easy way out. Take for example, the matter of missions. An easy way out is to decide that making money and supporting missions is the thing to do; and in the process, of course, procure a new home, a better car and many other niceties for living. It’s a very easy way out, a nice salve to the spiritual conscience, but it’s still the easy way out. Or, take the fine young preacher, strong, buoyant, able. An easy way is to just occupy a pulpit, feeding the same poor sheep every Lord’s Day, in some church that has long suffered from spirit* ual indigestion. Again it’s a nice salve to the conscience but it is still the easy way out. Not that money and preachers aren’t desperately needed but one ponders the Soul Winning (continued) me if I believe what I am telling them and if I practice it, too! This, of course, requires study on my part. II Timothy 2:15, “ Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of Truth.” 2. It brings more joy beyond winning a soul. As you continue to study and to help the person you have al ready won to Christ to grow in grace and in the know ledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, it will bring the results that John speaks of in III John 4, “ I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.” 3. This method of reaching people for Christ cannot be done in mass production. One preacher standing before 100 people cannot possibly meet the needs of all of the 100 people. Many pastors go through a Bible book study in their Sunday sermons. The portion of Scripture used in the exposition of the morning just may not include exactly what your friend needs on this particular morn ing, for it may be that some teaching on how to meet the Devil’s temptations is what your convert desperately needs. If you have been studying regularly before his conversion and since his salvation, you will be right there with exactly what is needed from the Word at that time! “ Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked” (Eph. 6:16). 4. This method of soul-winning involves being a par ent! We are bom into God’s family as spiritual babies. It is God’s desire that every new baby should not only grow but should also have a spiritual parent. I Cor. 4:15, JANUARY, 1963
equality of having one Christian worker for about every 700 people in America and one Christian worker for 625,- 000 in Italy; or the total giving of less than $200 million by all the Protestant churches in America for foreign missions. Somehow a big question mark comes up in our minds as to whether a lot of folk have possibly just taken the easy way out, doing a work for the Lord that costs them little or nothing. The hard way is to give oneself completely and to- tally to the service of Christ with no strings attached. It might mean loss of life but it could also mean eternal life for thousands of people living presently beyond the sound of the gospel. It could mean little or nothing of treasure laid up on earth, but it could mean treasure beyond count laid up in heaven. It could mean loneliness and privation, heartache and weariness, but it could also mean joy abounding for many who until this day know nothing but the darkness of spiritual night. God always presents two ways to every believer: the easy way and the difficult way. That the majority choose the easy way is evident for we have at least one evan gelical church for every 1,000 people in America but scarcely one for every hundred thousand people on the mission fields of the world. W ill it be the easy way or the difficult way for you? “ For though ye have ten thousands instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the Gospel.” I Thess. 2:11, “As ye know how we exhorted and comforted and charged every one of you, as a father doth his children.” I Thess. 2:7, “ But we were gentle among you, even as a nurse cher- isheth her children.” Before a child is bom, there should be a happy, ma ture, well-adjusted family for that child to be bom into. If we want the happiness of the expected child and if we desire the maximum potential to ever be reached in this child’s life, then let us be sure we have such a home and family into which this baby may be bom. A parent’s responsibility is to feed, to protect and to train the new Christian. God commits the offspring to the parent. We are at fault, not God, if these new converts do not grow! The saints should do the work of the ministry in ac cordance with the training received by pastors, teachers and evangelists. Ephesians 4:11 and 12, “And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangel ists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edify ing of the body of Christ.” However, the reason many saints are not doing this spiritual work is because they just do not know how! They must be shown how! As a pastor, I must take time to really train my people, one or two at a time. Then it will spread to others. Once it gets a start in a congrega tion and is firmly rooted, you will never be able to get it out.
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