Matt. 6:5,6
5 And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for
they love to pray standing in the synagogues
and in the corners of
the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you,
They have their reward.
6 But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou
hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father
which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.
In this passage of scripture, it is speaking primarily about praying.
However, I believe that the
motive in which we are praying, preach-
ing, giving, etc. is what is important. What is the reason we are out
on the street corners, etc.,. praying, preaching, etc., or in the church,
giving, etc. it should be to witness and tell of God's goodness, mercy,
etc. to glorify the Name of JESUS!
In the 1930's an old white-haired preacher from a neighboring city,
came through the very small town where our paternal grandparents
lived. He preached a message they had not heard before. It was re-
ported that approximately 1500 people came from miles and miles
around to hear this new message. There were people from different
religious backgrounds who came. Many came out of curiousity, and
this was the reason my paternal grandparents visited at the begin-
ning. Most did not go any further than to visit, but when this man
went from the street corner to a place behind the row of stores which
made up one side of the downtown area, Grandma continued to go
and hear this message.
The preacher now added a stock tank that he had hauled down to their
town to baptize new converts. The mode of baptism also was strange
to Grandma's church practice of sprinkling the converts. She listened
and then got mad, and began to search the scriptures to prove that
Pentecostal preacher wrong. Searching with an open heart, she indict-
ed herself.
Five generations later, our family still believes the message this old
white-haired preacher came
preaching on a street corner in a
small north central TEXAS town in the early 1930's. Thank God!!
Any day now, our first little GREAT-Granddaughter will be born. This
little girl has come forth from the fifth generation of our family to follow
apostolic truth. She will begin the 6th generation. Her parents are both
strong on the same message that came to us by
an old white-haired
man preaching on the street corner in north central Texas in 1933!
Falla39