Tag Archives: Word of God

Faith, Observations

A Tale of Two Churches


“Jesus said to Peter the third time, ‘Simon, son of John, do you love me?’ Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, ‘Do you love me?’ and he said to him, ‘Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.’  Jesus said to him, ‘Feed my sheep’” (John 21:15-17, ESV).

Steak House 1:

You go to a steak house.

The Maitre D’ invites you in, finds a table for you, and gets you seated.

A glass wall separates you from steaks sizzling on the grill.

The Maitre D’ describes to you the steak, how it is cooked, what side dishes are available, and then he points at the chef who cooks all this.

The Maitre D’ then tells you your time in the restaurant is up, and invites you to come back again.

You leave hungry, but don’t understand why.

Steak House 2:

You go to a steak house.

The Maitre D’ invites you in, finds a table for you, and gets you seated.

He serves you water and bread and says, “Let me introduce you to our Chef.”

The Chef comes out carrying an excellently prepared steak with all the trimmings.

The Chef and Maitre D’ sit with you and share a delicious meal with you.

After the meal, the Maitre D hugs you and asks that you return soon, and the Chef hugs you and says,

“I’ll come to your house and feed you again if you will let me.”

What It Means:

The Steak House is your church.

The Maitre D’ is your pastor.

The Chef is Jesus.

The Steak is the Word.

The Glass Wall is the thing that separates you from Christ and His Word.

When you leave your church each Sunday, has the Pastor done everything he can to make sure you are fed?

When you leave your church each Sunday, have you had an encounter with Jesus?

When you leave your church each Sunday, have you been fed a healthy portion of the word?

The Glass wall is there at the first church because they have no idea what it takes to open the way for you to meet Christ and enjoy the Word.

There is no glass wall at the second church because the pastor of that Church has gone through the door that leads to Christ and can take you through the same door.

If Christ is not your Savior and your Lord, you will have no idea what it means to bring others to Jesus and learn from His Word.

If you leave Church hungry, maybe you are attending the wrong church.

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’ (Mat 7:21-23)

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Faith

How Does Your Garden Grow? (Revised Edition)


I was lying there in the garden, almost asleep.  A man came up the pathway, stopped and

placed his hands on the gate.  He looked around and asked if the garden was mine.  I told him it

was not mine, but I was keeping it for my Master.  He asked if I knew much about gardening.

“Well, of course, I do!”, I replied.

I told him that I had been to the best schools of gardening, and would probably forget more

about gardening in one day than he would learn in a year.  Inundated him with a deluge of

information from my vast knowledge of gardening.  I felt that would surely quiet my unwelcome

guest.

There was a moment of silence.  Perhaps I had been too hard on him.  I felt justified, though, he

did disturb my rest.

 

He looked at me and said:

“Have you been a gardener so long, yet without fruit?

Do you know all about the soils, yet have not tilled one foot of furrow?

Are all the seeds familiar to you, but you have not put one into the ground?

See, the weeds outnumber the leaves on the trees; the thistles are more abundant than the

flowers.

What kind of Husbandman would let his masters’ garden fall into such disarray?

You boast of being a gardener but have no fruit for all your knowledge.

How sad for you when the Master comes to judge the fruit of your labor.”

 

I sat there in stunned silence, at a complete loss for words.  I noticed as he vanished before my

very eyes that the gate on which he had been resting was bloody from wounds that had pierced

his hands.

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