Faithful

"Faithful".  A word commonly heard used among Christians to describe the character of God.  He is 'faithful' in that He is absolutely consistent and unchanging.  He is 'faithful' in that He honors all His promises declared for the world to hear.  He is 'faithful' in His compassion and love for that He has carefully created.  And He is 'faithful' to lead those He calls His own.

And it is the last sentence that I saw at work last night. . . . .

At our College and Career gathering we had the privilege of being taught by Brian Smith who is one of the pastors here at ROA.  His topic was evolution. . .and I have never seen anyone teach on this topic with the kind of passion and precision Brian exhibited last night.

There were many questions that arose as he addressed the reigning worldviews surrounding evolution theory--and there were also some surprised students as they heard of an alternate claim based on good questions and solid evidence, that evolution theory has some significant holes in it and that there just may be a case to be made for the idea that God created this world and did so in the relatively recent past.

The topic touched on microbiology, physics, astronomy, chemistry, theology and was skillfully woven into helping us hear how the Bible and its message can actually make sense in the midst of all these disciplines.

I was not only introduced to some new and very helpful ideas that can make way for faith, but I was also touched by the fact that I was seeing God in action:  He was faithful in bringing to bear the experiences and wisdom that had been implanted in Brian over the last number of decades and in that moment brought forth hope and life for a group who are being called to live their faith in 2013!  The depth and width of God's influence is amazing!

Colossians 1:6-7 says this:
"All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God's grace in all its truth.  You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, and who also told us of your love in the Spirit."

I believe that last night we were privileged to experience the gospel bearing fruit and it was done through our "Epaphras"---our faithful brother Brian Smith, who ministered the wisdom of Christ to us in a very powerful and practical way.

On behalf of the ROA C and C group I would just like to say thank you Brian for being faithful as Jesus is faithful.

BT