Good day to all,
There is an old story about a farmer who wondered if animals had church denominational differences. So he decided to experiment a bit. He first tossed his golden retriever into the water and the dog happily swum and frolicked in the water. The farmer decided, "Golden retrievers are Baptists". He then tossed in a turkey and it came up out of the water gobbling away. The farmer declared, "turkeys are Pentecostal". He then grabbed his wife's cat and as he got near the water, the cat began hissing and doing its best to get away. The farmer said, "cats are Presbyterian". Of course this is a little church humor using baptism by immersion as the catalyst.
There is another story about farm animals. Two animals decide to collaborate in a project. The project was fixing the farmer a good breakfast of ham and eggs. The two animals were a pig and a chicken. Needless to say, the level of commitment of the pig to the project was somewhat greater.
In Matthew 16:24-25 we read, Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. Jesus was laying out the level of commitment that those who choose to be HIs disciples are to live out. He is calling for the level of commitment the pig displayed for the farmer's breakfast.
There are times that we speak of giving it all up for Jesus but the level of sacrifice we have in mind is the level the chicken displayed and not the pig.
There is not question that as a church, we recently hit a snag. We need to keep in mind that God is bigger than any snag. And we are to remember the level of commitment we are called for to get past any challenge we face as a church.
Wishing you the best of weeks, from one pig to fellow pigs,
Vic
There is an old story about a farmer who wondered if animals had church denominational differences. So he decided to experiment a bit. He first tossed his golden retriever into the water and the dog happily swum and frolicked in the water. The farmer decided, "Golden retrievers are Baptists". He then tossed in a turkey and it came up out of the water gobbling away. The farmer declared, "turkeys are Pentecostal". He then grabbed his wife's cat and as he got near the water, the cat began hissing and doing its best to get away. The farmer said, "cats are Presbyterian". Of course this is a little church humor using baptism by immersion as the catalyst.
There is another story about farm animals. Two animals decide to collaborate in a project. The project was fixing the farmer a good breakfast of ham and eggs. The two animals were a pig and a chicken. Needless to say, the level of commitment of the pig to the project was somewhat greater.
In Matthew 16:24-25 we read, Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. Jesus was laying out the level of commitment that those who choose to be HIs disciples are to live out. He is calling for the level of commitment the pig displayed for the farmer's breakfast.
There are times that we speak of giving it all up for Jesus but the level of sacrifice we have in mind is the level the chicken displayed and not the pig.
There is not question that as a church, we recently hit a snag. We need to keep in mind that God is bigger than any snag. And we are to remember the level of commitment we are called for to get past any challenge we face as a church.
Wishing you the best of weeks, from one pig to fellow pigs,
Vic
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