Mature Love
Leaves With Nothing
As We Wait
Their duty in Galilee was to wait for the Saviour, not to return to the old life; but they went a-fishing in their own wisdom, and caught nothing. They went back from the exalted mission of being fishers of men to fishers of fish. They turned from the service of Christ to the service of self. And the service of self proved, as it always proves, fruitless. The great two-fold lesson of the narrative is that apart from Christ man can do nothing, and following Christ’s command always brings success. Fishing themselves for themselves, there was no success; fishing in the same sea, by the same boat, in the same place, at the command of Christ, there was success. Oh, that the servants of God would but heed the Master’s teaching, simple and unreasonable though it seems! – Milton C. Wilcox – Signs of the Times
Shoreline
Discipling
Matthew 28:19-20: Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
“In the command to disciple, teach and baptize we find that there is a relational component to evangelism (discipling), intentional instruction in righteousness (teaching), and that the end result is to bring them to the water to be baptized and join God’s church. There is no preference towards discipling, no high calling in teaching, and no blessing in baptism alone—each of these elements is important, necessary and inextricably linked. The church that goes about discipling without any intention of teaching clear doctrine, does not fulfill this command. The same is true for the church that only baptizes or the church whose whole focus is doctrinal teaching. In fact, you can’t even say you’re obeying this command if you do two of these three.”
Guest Article Excerpt from Jason Wolf – Director, Northwest Mission Institute.