Scripture

Now, the one who plants and the one who waters are equally important and on the same team, but each will be rewarded for his own work.

~I Corinthians 3:8, TPT

Quote

None of us do great things. But we can all do small things, with great love, and together we can do something wonderful.”

~ Mother Teresa

Someone said, “There is no limit to what we could accomplish if we didn’t care who got the credit.” How do I know that I have too much pride and not enough humility? Because I care who gets the credit. When we think of fishing today, we thing bass boats and rods and reels. We think of an individual but Peter, Andrew, James and John were commercial fishermen and they did not use rod and reels or fishing poles. They used boats and nets and they works as partners. I think we tend to forget that fishing for men is teamwork. Paul founded the church at Corinth. He was their spiritual father but Apollos and Peter also worked with this congregation. Apollos was an orator, schooled in rhetoric and very eloquent. A modern version would be Spencer Bell. Peter was somewhere in between. He was probably not as eloquent as Apollos but he was passionate and a very good communicator. The worse speaker of them all was Paul. When I was in my early twenties, I was introduced to a pastor who had a Phd. He said to me, “I have heard about your preaching. They say you are the greatest preacher since the Apostle Paul.” Of course he was using flattery, he was not sincere but the thing that impressed me least was his lack of knowledge scripture. Paul was a great missionary; the greatest in fact and he was a superb theologian but his strength was not public speaking. This is what the Corinthians said about Paul {2 Cor. 10:10}, “For his letters are weighty and powerful, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible.” Doesn’t sound like a compliment to me.

The Corinthian church was divided around personalities. There was one group that adored Peter, one group loved Apollos and another Paul. There was a fourth group, the Pharisees, who claimed piously to be followers of Christ but all four were factions within the body. Paul said, “Enough, who is Apollos and who is Paul. I planted and Apollos watered but it is God who gives the increase.” Evangelism is teamwork. I wish I was a harvester but I am afraid I am more of a planter. Some plant, some water and some reap the harvest but it is a team effort. One of the greater aspects of evangelism is prayer. You might say there are four groups on the team: the planters, the prayer warriors, those who water or cultivate and those who harvest. Most of you can remember Billy Graham crusades and he always presented his ministry as a team effort. Yes there was George Beverly Shea the soloist, and Cliff Barrows the praise and worship leader, but this was only the tip of the iceberg. Months, even years before a crusade, his front team came in to enlist the support of the churches and to begin promoting prayer in preparation for the crusade. What we saw on TV was the crusade rally but there were hours and hours of preparation that came prior to the crusade itself. Fishing for men requires a team effort.

Extra

Off to warehouse coffee in Hartselle for Biscuits and the Bible with Bro. Jack. It was all June could do to get me out of bed and I am thinking I might return after Biscuits and Bible.