After the new birth, then what

    I wasn't really planning to blog this week since we have a break, but Bill had a conversation I want to relate to you. He has coffee every week with the guy who lead him to belief in Christ after VietNam, during college. This week they were joined by the man who lead their campus group those very many years ago.
     Hal Miller is like a storybook hero in the annuls of Campus Bible Fellowship and for good reason. His giftedness in evangelism and commitment to ministry are inspiring. Since his very late retirement, he has settled in Colorado and is involved in Prison Ministry there. [Bill turned 70 last week....this guy has to be close to 90. He's in great shape but his legs are shot from so many years on the basketball court connecting with college guys. His mind is still way sharper than yours or mine.]
     He was talking about the prison ministry and lamenting the common occurance of people who come to the Lord through some program specifically evangelistic and eventually go back to the life they were living before. It's a very large factor IN THE PRISON CULTURE THAT HE MINISTERS IN, he said. Many, many had salvation experiences when they were young. Many had conversions when they first started getting into trouble. But they went back to living, as Ephesians 2 says, "according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience."
      Bill had to ask, because these guys are straight edged Baptists, if Hal thought they were truly saved. "There's no question about their salvation," Hal replied. "But there's no discipleship out there."
     This is a big piece of the answer to the can of worms Sarah opened on Tuesday. It doesn't explain all. It doesn't cover people like Jenny's friend. It isn't scripture.
      But as we learn about the church through the book of Ephesians, we have to notice that the goal is mature Christians. The job... is mature Christians. I think we will see that clearly as we work our way through the book.
      So I'm going to recommend going back, over this break in our study, to that hard to understand, seemingly nebulous chapter 1 so that we all in our own lives have a heart understanding of the amazing blessing of being chosen by God. That our whole being is enlightened and we know God; know the hope of His calling, the riches of His inheritance and the surpassing greatness of His power.
     Look at chapter 2 again and begin to understand the impact of being taken off that futile Thomas the train track and raised up into the Heavenlies with Christ. Make sure you know your salvation is not of yourselves. And begin to wonder what work God has planned for you, his precious masterpiece, to accomplish for Him in the Church.