Fulfilling Our Purpose
Dr. J. Gerald Harris
Isaiah 6:1-9
I had the privilege this past week of being elected the president of the Georgia Baptist Convention. It is really a distinct honor for which I am grateful, but to me it's just another example of God's grace. I am not deserving of God's favor; I am not deserving of being the president of this convention; I am not deserving of being the pastor of this church. In fact, do you know what I deserve apart from Jesus Christ? Apart from Jesus Christ I deserve hell, and that's all I deserve.
But God is so gracious. Grace has been defined as God's infinite favor to the infinitely ill-deserving. And I know that I'm a recipient of God's grace.
And I just want to make sure that I don't ever think more highly of myself than I ought to think. I want to keep this thing in perspective.
I'm reminded of a story about Coach Bill McCartney. Before he began to give movement to the Promise Keepers organization, he was the football coach at the University of Colorado. During the 1990 season his team was competing for the national championship. And one day, just before practice, he had just walked onto the practice field with his players, and not thirty minutes later his trainer called across the field and said, "Coach, there's a phone call for you."
McCartney yelled back, "You know I don't take phone calls during practice."
And the trainer yelled back, "Yeah, coach, but it's Sports Illustrated calling."
McCartney thought for a moment or two and finally said, "Okay, I will be there. Have him hang on."
He had to walk all the way across three practice fields and up a large ramp to his office in the stadium. As he walked, he started thinking, "What do they want from me? Perhaps they want to write an article to set the record straight about some of the awful things they said about us last year when we won the national championship. Or perhaps they want to write about how we should really be ranked no. 1 over tw ...
Dr. J. Gerald Harris
Isaiah 6:1-9
I had the privilege this past week of being elected the president of the Georgia Baptist Convention. It is really a distinct honor for which I am grateful, but to me it's just another example of God's grace. I am not deserving of God's favor; I am not deserving of being the president of this convention; I am not deserving of being the pastor of this church. In fact, do you know what I deserve apart from Jesus Christ? Apart from Jesus Christ I deserve hell, and that's all I deserve.
But God is so gracious. Grace has been defined as God's infinite favor to the infinitely ill-deserving. And I know that I'm a recipient of God's grace.
And I just want to make sure that I don't ever think more highly of myself than I ought to think. I want to keep this thing in perspective.
I'm reminded of a story about Coach Bill McCartney. Before he began to give movement to the Promise Keepers organization, he was the football coach at the University of Colorado. During the 1990 season his team was competing for the national championship. And one day, just before practice, he had just walked onto the practice field with his players, and not thirty minutes later his trainer called across the field and said, "Coach, there's a phone call for you."
McCartney yelled back, "You know I don't take phone calls during practice."
And the trainer yelled back, "Yeah, coach, but it's Sports Illustrated calling."
McCartney thought for a moment or two and finally said, "Okay, I will be there. Have him hang on."
He had to walk all the way across three practice fields and up a large ramp to his office in the stadium. As he walked, he started thinking, "What do they want from me? Perhaps they want to write an article to set the record straight about some of the awful things they said about us last year when we won the national championship. Or perhaps they want to write about how we should really be ranked no. 1 over tw ...
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