Beyond Believing - Dr. Michael Gardner
Few, if any, of us would be who we are without the influence of others. It certainly is
true for me. I am who I am as a Christian, a father and husband, and as a pastor
because of the influence of faithful Christian women and men. There have been too
many to name one little column, but let me just say that without Bill, Dr. Smith, Rose
Marie and Marion, I might not even be a Christian, let alone a pastor today.
It is possible for God to “stop someone in their tracks” directly without working
through other people, after all God is God! But even the great Apostle Paul was
deeply influenced by an ordinary faithful Christian from Damascus named Ananias.
We know very little about him other than Paul’s faith story from Acts 9 and Acts 22.
What we do know is that without the encouragement of Ananias, there might never
have been an Apostle Paul!
Most of us, if we think back, can name those who have influenced and encouraged
us. But the question I am praying over this week is a different one. Here it is: “Who
are we encouraging and nurturing in the faith?” One of the hardest things for most
Christians to know how to do is how to share our faith with others. Well, my
messages the next four weeks are designed to help us. Using the insights from Bill
Hybels’ recent book of the same name, we’ll be learning that it often is as simple as
following God’s promptings to “Just Walk Across the Room.”
See you Sundays at Old Mission!