... did? No. Jesus conclusion: "If you had known what this means, 'I desire mercy and not sacrifice,' you would not have condemned the guiltless" (Matt. 12:7). Yeah, Jesus. Right on! All RIGHT!! High fives! Preach, Brother, Preach! Spike it in the end zone and do a Deion Sanders dance. Uh huh. It is easy for us to be self-righteous in our reading and go tut-tut to those mean old Pharisees. But as one biblical scholar points out, "[A]nytime we read a given passage of scripture and find ourselves right away on ...
... important work and one that he does continually is wooing people to show them their sin and their Savior. Jesus accomplished the purchase from sin and the devil already, and no one can change that fact. No wonder people like football/baseball star Deion Sanders or the son of the famous atheist Madalyn Murray O'Hair have become Christians. We shouldn't be surprised. God never gives up. He keeps on knocking! A nurse on the pediatric ward, before listening to the little ones' chests, would plug the stethoscope ...
... him" (Romans 8:17). To be baptized into this ministry of Jesus means involvement on our part. It is at this point we are afflicted with paralysis. We talk a good thing rather than doing a good thing. When discussing his success in sports Deion Sanders, the flamboyant athlete who played both professional football and baseball, said, "You can't just talk the talk; you gotta walk the walk." Success is more than mere words. Many times we Christians get caught up by the delusion of glowing words and statements ...
4. Don't Be Slowed by I'das
Illustration
Mike Lupica
Deion "Prive Time" Sanders, one time outfielder for the Atlanta Braves and cornerback for the Atlanta Falcons, is the only athlete to have hit a Major League home run and scored an NFL touchdown in the same week. Sanders grew up on the mean streets of Fort Myers, Fla., where exposure to some would-be athletes spurred him to make a success of himself. He explains: "I call them Idas. 'If I'da done this, I'd be making three million today...If I'da practiced a little harder, ...
