You can’t miss the urgency and passion with which Jesus carried out His ministry. Throughout His ministry, He spoke of musts, such as, “I must work the works of Him that sent me” (John 9:4).

Sometime ago, I found a little acrostic that has been helpful to me, and I would like to pass it on in the hope that it will help others. When reading a passage, I use my “specs” to find any of the following things:

We should strive to make disciples, and that process of discipleship should begin at the doorway of the local church when someone desires to unite with the body of Christ.

I believe the key reason for adult Bible classes in the local church is the organization to fulfill the purposes of the church. Dr. Lee Roberson used to say, “The Sunday school is the church organized to fulfill the purpose of the church.”

We trust God and are thankful for His promises of provision in Matthew 6:33, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” However, I wonder how many of us are planning appropriately for our income to continue in the event of illness, disability, or old age.

Because reaching our community with the gospel is so important, I believe it should be approached with both passion and organization. The 4Outreach program is an organized plan that we use at Lancaster Baptist Church to help us share our faith passionately.

We cannot always measure effectiveness by visible fruit. Some of my favorite testimonies of salvation are of people who trusted Christ after repeated witnessing attempts by multiple people.

I purchased my first goat as a thirteen-year-old fresh out of the city suburbs. I had no idea what I was in for. I named my new pet Sarah Jane, and exactly one day after my purchase, she had four kids. And I had my hands full. Sarah Jane nursed two of the kids, and I bottle fed the other two.

A lot of fear that Western Christians have about Muslims comes from a lack of understanding of the Islamic faith. Some Christians are deceived and pulled away from the faith. Others, such as Christians who burn the Koran, fail to show Christlike love and undermine missionaries’ efforts to win Muslims to Christ. There is a spiritual warfare raging between true Christianity and the Islamic world. We do not wrestle with flesh and blood, and this war will not be won through military might or political demonstrations. Only the gospel of Jesus Christ has the power to overcome the darkness of this world.

I think of teachers much like I do of nurses—heroes. Like nursing, teaching is an unsung job that requires tremendous amounts of personal investment in other people’s lives. And, also like nursing, teaching has the potential to make a tremendous difference as well.