I think this story will encourage all of you. It’s true.
Almost 30 years ago I ran an auto insurance agency in Germany for a company called Fortune. One day a clearly bewildered lady came in with a friend to ask if I was a fortune teller.
What a great opportunity, huh?
I missed it. I simply told her that she had us mistaken. We sold Fortune auto insurance.
They left.
As has happened many times in my life (but not always) I was stricken by my cowardice in not jumping on that opportunity to tell her about the One who controls all our fortunes. I was so convicted I fell on my knees in the store and prayed fervently for her.
That night I went to a Bible study. This was 28 years ago, I think, so the details are fuzzy. I’m pretty sure it was a Bible study I rarely attended.
Anyway, after I was there a few minutes, in came the lady who had asked about fortune-telling, with her friend, led by one of the members of the Bible study. He explained that he had ran across them that day, explained the Gospel to them, and led them to Jesus.
Should have been me, but God love triumphs even our failures.
About Paul Pavao
I am married, the father of six, and currently the grandfather of five. I teach, and I am always trying to learn to disciple others better than I have before. I believe God has gifted me to restore proper theological foundations to the Christian faith. In order to ensure that I do not become a heretic, I read the early church fathers from the second and third centuries. They were around when all the churches founded by the apostles were in unity.
My philosophy for Bible reading is to understand each verse for exactly what it says in its local context. Only after accepting the verse for what it says do I compare it with other verses to develop my theology. If other verses seem to contradict a verse I just read, I will wait to say anything about those verses until I have an explanation that allows me to accept all the verses for what they say. This takes time, sometimes years, but eventually I have always been able to find something that does not require explaining verses away. The early church fathers have helped a lot with this.
I argue and discuss these foundational doctrines with others to make sure my teaching really lines up with Scripture. I am encouraged by the fact that the several missionaries and pastors that I know well and admire as holy men love the things I teach. I hope you will be encouraged too.
I am indeed tearing up old foundations created by tradition in order to re-establish the foundations found in Scripture and lived on by the churches during their 300 years of unity.