Posts by Jim Elliff (Page 22)
What to Ask Myself Before I Teach the Bible
The results of our teaching are entirely God’s business. But it is our business to be as prepared as possible. This not only means that we must know our subject, but that we must be spiritually-minded and intentional. The following are questions to ask yourself before you teach others: Have I prayed? Do I consciously and desperately need the Spirit? Do I believe that my hearers must hear what I have to say? Am I attempting to live by the…
A “Whew!” Christmas
I’m looking forward to a stress-free Thanksgiving to Christmas season once again. We all know that gift-giving is the thing that brings on the pressure. Finding “just the right gift” can be daunting, especially for people who already have everything they could possibly want already. We enjoyed years of Christmas gift-giving as a family, and I don’t regret it, nor do I have any criticism of those who do it, even extravagantly if they can afford it. Love can be…
For Better Conversations
Good conversation went fugitive with the invasion of electronic media. Yet you long for it, and so do those in your circle of acquaintances. Believers in Christ ought to be excellent at it. Even our non-believing friends ought to leave us saying, “That was the best conversation I’ve had for months.” There is an art to develop in conversation, granted, but we should be committed to the process. In my view, it is attainable by any of us. Hint: Self…
People Need the Lord: Ministry Reports from Indonesia
Below are four reports Jim sent while on a two-week trip to Indonesia. Please pray now for CCW workers Steve Burchett and Selamab Assefa who have arrived in Ethiopia for ministry in several locations over the next couple of weeks. Report 1 It’s 4:30 a.m. and we just heard the Muslim call to prayer from the minarets across this part of Bandung, where the people live in darkness. We thought of the demons hovering over the city as we listened…
What Does God Have To Do with It?
If people are converted to Christ it’s because God stooped to use inadequate people like you and me to confront them with the gospel. Like preaching to a corpse, however, we cannot cause life to invade dead souls, even if we have eloquent, logical, and emotive words. I heard of a preaching professor who took his students to a graveyard to make this very point. He stood them around the burial spot of a man and commanded them to preach…
Until We Die
Poem written for Jeannie Elliff just before her death on 7/20/15 UNTIL WE DIE Jim Elliff We don’t know how to live until we die– die to trust in living as that which keeps a life, die to fear of dying as that which ends a life. And if we die to living, And live by dying, We live the truest life by Him whose life we’re given, Who came as life And lived to die And rose to life…
Christians and No Work Sundays
Believers haven’t always had Sundays free from work. Though our culture is changing in this regard, it still is largely expected that most of our members will be exempt from Sunday work to give attention to our worship. The earliest Christians did not have such a privilege. Though surely some believed that it should be so prior to this, it appears that “work free Sundays” were imposed upon the Roman society through an A.D. 321 decree of the Roman Emperor…
“So Much Better Now” Are you Sure?
The pain has been excruciating, the hours and weeks arduous. The cost to the spouse and family who love her has been gladly expended, but jobs and daily responsibilities will necessarily decrease the hours for the daily vigil now. Added to it all of this is the treatment cost itself, sending up in smoke years of saving. “Mother is so ill,” they say to concerned friends. “We know it will be such a relief for her when she dies.” What?…
Monthly Letter | September 2014
Dear CCW Family, Years ago in what was then called a “Colored Township” in Capetown, South Africa, I wondered at the hatred that caused that circular black burn mark on the street close to the front door of the gentle believers who had opened their hearts and home to me. What causes a person to “necklace” another with a flaming tire? In those days of Apartheid, nerves were strained. Many mornings in that enchanting country we awoke to read of…
Monthly Letter | August 2014
Dear CCW Family, When I was ten, I wore the proud uniform of the Bethany Tigers, representing Bethany Baptist Church on Kansas City’s church league . . . black top, white shorts, white legs, skinny hairless arms. We contested in pseudo-basketball at the Bales Avenue Baptist Church gym. I saw the photo the other day. Deacon Jay Jones was the coach, a sign-painter not known as an athlete anytime during his life. I wasn’t the best of the players either,…
Bread Out of Heaven? Can I Believe This?
Jesus denies that the children of Israel were given bread or manna from heaven by Moses. Jesus also does not attribute bread or manna from heaven as coming from his own Father. In John 6, Jesus makes this abundantly clear, even after the inquirers said correctly, “Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it has been written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” They were quoting from Ex 16:21. How can this be true and not…
Monthly Letter | July 2014
Dear CCW Family, I was in seminary during the days of the flower children. We wore tattered bell-bottom jeans and blue work shirts with embroidered flowers and sewn-in messages about peace. On mine, those messages were also about Christ. My boots were full leather with lots of lacing. My medallion was a fish, or a cross on a leather string, way larger than you might think. We held up two fingers to symbolize peace. Our hair was long. We were…