Posts by Jim Elliff (Page 23)
Law Confusion
It is an often repeated mistake for Bible readers to assume that “the works of the Law” means any good work or act of obedience to God. However, Paul appears to mean by this term in his first century context “the externalities of the Mosaic Law”. If someone said, “You have to be circumcised to be saved, and obey Old Covenant separation laws, feast days and dietary restrictions” he would be talking about what hopeful Gentile converts in the first…
April 2017: A Letter From Jim
Dear CCW family, I recently calculated that we’ve had about 2000 meetings in our home over the last ten years, many of them packing out the place. That’s around four per week! When I think about all the times we’ve “cleaned up before they come,” I break out in a cold sweat. Let’s just say, we’ve put out a lot of chairs and swept a lot of floors. But really, think about what a privilege it is to use the…
Living By the Prophet’s Words
Prophets like Moses and Paul, John and Isaiah had amazing encounters with the Lord. But we are to step out in faith without having similar experiences. You should not expect that God has to prove that what has been written is required of us by an additional vision, appearance, voice, or impression. We shouldn’t say, “I won’t take this step unless I have special revelation from God,” but must obey what God has made known to the prophet-writers of the…
Jacob Saw Christ
Jacob, on his flight to Paddam-Aram, had a dream of a ladder leading to heaven with the Lord at the top and angels descending and ascending. This took place at what he would call Bethel, or “house of God.” “And behold, the Lord stood above it and said…” is a phrase which indicates that he was actually speaking with the preincaranate Christ. That it was the preincarnate Christ that Jacob saw that night is made clear later when Jesus met…
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…
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…
“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,…
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…
Reject
“The stone which the builders rejected, this became the very corner stone,” and, “A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense” (1 Peter 2:7-8). This is the One everyone else rejected, even when they saw Him in person and were sometimes two feet from His face. They looked the stone over and marked it unusable, not valuable, replaceable and inadequate. How could they stumble over the magnificent stone that means everything to us? How could someone like Christ be…
Monthly Letter | June 2014
Dear CCW Family, The commanding statue of Lenin in front of the Communist Headquarters building towered over us as we walked by. We entered this imposing building in what was then called Kosice, Czechoslovakia. In a short time, the building was packed with a thousand intrigued listeners, including the mayor of the city, and the television crew for the evening News. “You’ve taken the curse off this place,” the mayor said, indicating that many people had been sentenced to die…
Reminding Me
I haven’t always liked “reminders.” Inherently, a reminder occurs because we forgot the first time—or the last 10 times—what we were told. Nobody likes to think he is so incapable of remembering. More than once as a boy who loved to daydream, my parents would send me upstairs to the bathroom to wash my hands for supper, yet I would brush my teeth instead. At other times they would find me several minutes later staring at the mirror making faces…