Can I pray for you in any way?
Send any prayer requests to Gods4all@aol.com
In Christ, Mark
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk
** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn
** Become a Follower of The Christian Walk at http://the-christian-walk.blogspot.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
Those who are taught the word of God should provide for their teachers, sharing all good things with them.
Galatians 6:6 NLT
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
I have had the privilege to teach from the Bible for a very long time. It has been, and continues to be, one of the richest blessings in my life.
In 2007, the Lord called me to start The Christian Walk ministry and ever since then, I have been writing messages from the scriptures, each a special communion with God through the connection with the Holy Spirit. He tells me what to write and I write it before sharing with others. I pray the work He is doing through me has enriched your knowledge of His word, helped you shape yourself to be the person He wants you to be, and equipped you to go and make disciples.
Not only has the Lord called me to begin a special ministry, one with a following of 15.8 thousand people on Twitter, but He has also made the way for me to be able to formally teach others at church.
This started at Bayside Presbyterian Church in Virginia Beach where I co-taught a class, The Present Word, with a brother Christian, Gary Crossman. We had a faithful group of around twelve people who gathered together each Sunday. It’s in this class that I cut my teeth as a Bible teacher and I remember how nerve wracking it when I first started but the Lord helped lead me through, often helping me navigate through some class members who seemed to like to challenge everything you said. Despite this, I was far more cared for than abused in class, and this was a deep gift to me as a majority of those who attended put these words of Galatians 6:6 to work:
Those who are taught the word of God should provide for their teachers, sharing all good things with them.
As I sit here and think back to teaching that class, I can remember the good things that were shared, tangible and intangible. For even if I had not received any physical fits from those I taught, I still would have felt richly appreciated over the deep love and caring I received every week.
My time at Bayside Presbyterian did come to a close as Grace and I moved to a new church just a few miles away, Bayside Baptist Church, where we still attend today. There, I found myself back in the teaching saddle, this time instructing a class called The Tweeners. Since we aren’t too old or too young, we are in between age-wise, or Tweeners.
Although we use a different curriculum than what I taught from prior, Lifeway’s Explore the Bible material, the word of God remains the same. It is one of the few constants we can hold onto in a world that is ever changing and evolving.
Here’s another thing that has remained the same. Those in the Tweeners group provide for me and my co-teacher, Ron Gaylord. Like in The Present Word group, the Tweeners shower Ron and me with love and caring and prayer, each and every week. It’s a deep joy to share the scriptures with them along with the lesson plan the Lord provided.
As you read this, I hope that you are a regular member of a church small group who gather to share fellowship and a love for the scriptures. I also hope that your group does what I have experienced from the Present Word and Tweeners classes, an obedience to today's verse from Galatians 6 which calls students to provide for their teachers and share good things.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to Gods4all@aol.com
No comments:
Post a Comment