I saw an article in World Magazine this morning. I’ve never heard of it—I guess I’m not as well read as I might have thought—but the people we’re staying with here in California subscribe to it.
It has an article on a man named William T. Snead, who died on the Titanic, his second shipwreck.
He was a Christian and a magazine editor. As an editor, he covered the Welsh revival of 1904 – 1906. I thought his comments about it, given in the April 10, 2010 issue of World, in an article called "Going on its own" (sic) were worth repeating.
He was asked, "But is it all emotion? Is there no teaching?"
Precious little. Do you think that teaching is what people want in a revival? These people, all the people in a land like ours, are taught to death, preached to insensibility. They all know the essential truths. They know they are not living as they ought to live, and no amount of teaching will add anything to that conviction. To hear some people talk you would imagine that the best way to get a sluggard out of bed is to send a tract on astronomy showing him that according to the fixed and eternal law the sun will rise at a certain hour in the morning.
It probably goes without saying, doesn’t it, that this applies with surgical precision to America today?
For those of you that might actually be reading this, maybe we can talk in the comment section about what we should be doing in the place of continuing to teach people to death.
There are a lot of opinions and rumors about Constantine, the Council of Nicea, and the events of the fourth century that changed Christianity to Christendom. Not only will you get the incredible story, with all its twists, plots, and intrigues, but you will find out how history is done and never wonder what is true again.
The Rest of the Old, Old Story 
People are so desperate to see the real Christ.
That’s what they need. The Church, the real Church most certainly needs teaching within it’s walls. But the world around it needs to be touched by the real and living Christ.
They need to see us together, as a body, moving and living. Basically, they need to see and be touched by HIM… not a bunch of words… the need HIM… just like I need Him every day.
Demonstration is powerful! I’ve seen demonstration change the way people act, people who don’t seam to care about God at all, people who you would never expect a change from.
I’ve had the honor to work on job sites with brothers and be a part of that demonstration. People would tell us that they notice how we have respect and love for one another, and not only for ourselves but for the people around us.
Those people would change how they talked around us. People that said a curse every third word changed to not saying any when around us and telling their friends to do the same!
Don’t stop teaching people, but teach them to be doers of the word and not hearers only. We’ve heard that so many times, yet it goes in one ear and out the other. We’ve been conditioned to be hearers only, and to disregard the things that really matter, which are the first commandments, to love God and love each other as Christ loved us. We don’t really believe we can live the life Christ commanded us to. We have to do it with God’s grace and power and the help of the body of Christ.
Love it. Thanks for sharing, re-posted to Facebook w/ a link back to this post.
The only word that comes to my mind is, “live.”