Westminster Assembly

Westminster Assembly

Acts 6:4

"But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the Word."

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1 Timothy 4:6-16

" If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine, whereunto thou hast attained. But refuse profane and old wives' fables, and exercise thyself rather unto godliness. For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation. For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe. These things command and teach. Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity. Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery. Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all. Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee." 1 Tim 4:6-16 (KJV)

"A Witness or a Hindrance?" by Shane C. Montgomery

Monday, December 6, 2010

Because we live the way we do while claiming to be God's people, we are guilty of blaspheme. By our false profession, we destroy the credibility of God.  Anytime we live in a manner that is inconsistent with what we claim to be, we are guilty of blaspheming the name of the Lord. We have taken His name in vain and we have testified before the world that our God is not worthy of our love and steadfast devotion. When we hide our light under a bushel and cease to be salt in the world, we become no better than the religious Jews who boasted about their Law and their relationship with God, but had no spiritual reality to back up their claims. 


  As a result, the world was turned away from God and not to Him as He intended.  I gotta tell you something you already know and that is that the World is sitting there just waiting for a Christian to stumble, to fall. They love it, it justifies there way of thinking that all Christians are phonies and nothing but religious, self-righteous hypocrites and when a Christian stumbles in sin, they feel it validates their way of thinking about God.


This is one reason why it is so dangerous to use our own testimony in our witness to others. You can share your testimony, but it should not be used in the place of the Gospel. What I mean by this is that when we witness to a lost person and we start out by telling them what God has done for us
and our lives, we come off as looking self-righteous, we put ourselves in a position that we shouldn't be, remember, the Gospel of Christ is just that, “the Gospel of Christ” not of the “Gospel of Shane” or the “Gospel of Larry.”


 But when we witness with nothing but our own testimony, we are placing ourselves on a tall pedestal of piety, and when we stumble in sin, and we always do, that person now sees us as hypocrites and liars. We can do a lot of damage to the Kingdom by doing this, just stick with the good news, Christ's Death, Burial and Resurrection for the forgiveness of sins.  Let's be careful not to unintentionally do damage to His Kingdom with our good intentions.


Be Holy!
Shane C. Montgomery

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