Thank you for all of your great editorials in The Alabama Baptist. This one (Oct. 8 editorial, “Practicing What We Believe”) made me think a little more about decisions or disciples.
I don’t think it is either-or but what comes first.
God’s eternal plan and purpose is the redemption of a lost world. The job of telling the world is ours by using His Word, where the power is. Believers cannot be neutral about that (Matt. 12:30). When believers understand God’s heart for the lost, the desire to spread the gospel lasts as long as we draw breath.
The proclaimed gospel is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes (Rom. 1:16). Whoever believes will have eternal life (John 1:12; 3:3, 5, 15–18; 8:24; Mark 1:15).
This power of the Word is the foundation on which the Church rests and is at the heart of the Church’s mission. We must first share this with the world and then do the teaching after the Holy Spirit has done His work, and this must be done here and to the ends of the earth all at the same time.
Again the power is in the Word (1 Pet. 1:23; Heb. 4:12). Jonathan Edwards (an 18th century American preacher) read his sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” in a monotone and look what happened. Thanks for all you do for the Kingdom.
Buddy Kirk
Carrollton, Ala.
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