Sewing Machines and Shotguns

     My wife has at last count seven sewing machines. Now Logic would say, you can't sew with but one at a time, but she has seven. Men are the same; they usually have an array of guns in the gun cabinet, and while a few gunslingers were able to use a set of twin holsters, most of us have enough trouble aiming one at a time.
     Preaching the Gospel of Christ is a lot the same way. We have a big arsenal at our disposal but how many of us ever go back to the gun cabinet and pick out the right shooting iron for the job at hand. We mostly tell the poor sinner God has placed in our path, "I'll pray for you", and go right back on our merry way, never actually even sharing the Gospel.
     Some sewing machines are for basic sewing. In our Christian lives we have our basic witness tools. First our daily life. "Do others see Jesus in you?", is an oft quoted question we should all look at every day in every action we undertake. Second is our personal witnessing, if we do any personal witnessing. So often we drop our needle (or bullet like Barney Fife), by asking instead, "where do you go to Church". Nothing wrong with asking that, but where is Jesus in that question? We need to flat out and confidently ask, "Have you accepted Jesus as your Personal Savior?" Thirdly we need to be praying both for others and that the Lord will providentially place sinners in our path to see and hear our witness. Paul's personal prayer was: "that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel, "
Eph 6:19 (KJV)
      Some sewing machines are for quilting. You take a piece of fabric from here, place it next to a piece of fabric from over there and geometrically sew them together into beautiful patterns to make one magnificent work of art. Doctrinal teaching is like that. Is doctrinal teaching in your Christian arsenal? A wise Preacher once told his congregation, "most Christians don't know what they believe and if they do, they don't know where to find it in the Bible". I was in that congregation and I prayed right then, "Lord don't let me be like that." I, that very week, began to read the Bible through from cover to cover once a year in addition to the Bible Studies at Church and on TV and Radio.
       Read, Take Notes, Study reference scriptures, get a Strong's Bible Concordance and look at the original language and the root meanings of the key words, and most important pray that the Holy Spirit give you enlightenment and understanding of what you are reading. May I also recomend:
John Hagee on TV and Via the internet @GETV.org, Through the Bible with J. Vernon McGee on the Radio, and reruns of Dr. Adrian Rogers on TV and Radio. I believe these three to be the best Bible Teachers available today, when elswhere so little courage is exhibited from the pulpit.
      Quilting and putting exactly the right piece in the right spot is a lot different from the Shotgut approach. Shotguns are good for the right purpose but sometimes they are used like the character Mississippi in the John Wayne movie ElDorado. Mississippi couldn't hit a cactus with a handgun so Wayne gave him a sawed-off shotgun with the largest possible shot pattern so he'd be able to hit something. He did. He hit Wayne. Evangelists are good with shotguns at revivals, but sometimes laymen wind up shooting themselves in the foot . Scriptures just thrown out for shock value seldom hit the right spot for Salvation's sake.
      So whether God has called you to fix the loose board on some little ladies front porch, quilt a table runner for a gift, or to stand on a street corner with a King James Bible and witness to all comers, be sure you are prayed up, studied up, and carrying the right tools this week in your service to the Lord.