[Biblemat] A) I WONDER!!!

[J5827Sasser at wmconnect.com]

Brethren and Friends, Jim Sasser here.  A very good Tuesday
morning to each and everyone.  May God bless you and yours.
Here is an article from my files:

I WONDER!!!

     I wonder how many more folks we could get to attend ser-
vices of the church and be baptized if the elders decided to
give $1000 to every person who would come and hear the gos-
pel, then be baptized?  I'm thinking we could get a bunch of
folks with that kind of deal, don't you agree?  But we under-
stand that we need to appeal to a person's sense of spiritual
motivation and desire to please God, rather than any mater-
ial or physical benefit, right?  Well, since I am wondering "out
loud," I thought I might throw out a few more situations and
see what you think.

     I wonder how much more excited we would be about teach-
ing the gospel to lost people if our shepherds promised that
they would give us $1000 for every person that obeyed the
gospel as a  result of our teaching them?

     I wonder how much more excited we would be about trying
to restore erring brothers and sisters back to Christ if the
elders made the same promise -- to give us $1000 for each
restored person?

     I wonder how much more we would be interested in attend-
ing every service of the church if the bishops promised that
they would give us $1000 each week if we attended every Bible study and 
worship service?

     Rest assured that faithful overseers of the church have no
intention of trying to bribe people to do what they ought to be
doing in the first place!  That's right.  Jesus told us to preach
the gospel (Mk. 16:15).  He also told us through the apostle
Paul to try to restore the erring to the Lord (Gal. 6:1).  And,
the Holy Spirit charges us to nor forsake the assembling of
ourselves together as saints of God (Heb. 10:25).

     That pretty well covers the questions that we raised above, doesn't it?  
Now, if we are worldly-minded and money-
oriented, then the $1000 offers would have great appeal!  However, the truth 
is, if we are spiritually-minded and set on
pleasing the Lord, then we ought to gladly do all that He com-
mands us (Matt. 28:20) without needing someone to beg, bribe, or pamper us 
into doing it!  Our soul and the soul of
any lost person that we can help bring into fellowship with
Christ is worth more than just $1000.  Just one soul is worth
more than the whole world (Matt. 16:26).    ----- Roger Campbell.

(To look at the religious world about us and especially the TV
programs that are put on by these religious institutions, we
can see the elaborate, flesh pleasing, activities that are pre-
sented to those that attend.  Some of the entertainment and
elaborate stage props that are used in these TV services 
put the secular world of entertainment to shame.  The speak-
ers never tell the audiences the real Biblical truth of what is
required of them to please the Lord.  They tell them how much the Lord would 
multiply their riches if they present to
Him as much of their finances as possible.  So, these programs cater to a 
person's flesh rather then his spirit. JWS).
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://www.biblematters.net/pipermail/biblemat/attachments/20070116/e6dbbf37/attachment-0001.html