my preacher's wisdom continues "Imagine that"

My preacher told a story from his life last Sunday, and I was struck by it and he said I could repeat it, as long as I didn't name names (except for him, Rev. Bob Peak).

He related how years ago he was working closely with a hispanic preacher to be the hispanic church leader for the province. This Spanish-speaking teacher was from a pentecostal background, and one of the elders in the church hierarchy approached Bob saying "Pentecostals don't do well in our churches."

Bob's response, "Imagine that! The Holy Spirit moving in our churches!"

I thank God for people like Bob, who live what they preach, and are not afraid to remind their bosses who the real boss is. Also, he reminds us all what the attitude of Christians should be. It follows quite beautifully with the Moravian motto In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, love.

In another story related by him (or another preacher I respect), he was at some church conference where they were deciding on some change. There was a public debate about nominating a committee to study the issue, and it was suggested they have a person representing the various facets of the issue (I do not recall what the issue was). The church leadership nominated this person and that person, and had formed a diverse group of minds, and were almost concluded, and my preacher spoke up: "Are we going to have anyone that represents God's point of view?"

Preacher's wisdom about Judeo-Christian-Islamic tradition and God

My preacher (Rev. Bob Peak) told a short little story that struck me as unusually wise. Although a wise man, the wisdom was not his originally. Before he was a pastor, and before seminary, my preacher was simply a churchgoer, and after a Bible study had a question for his own preacher. He had run into the big idea that the God of Abraham is often seen as the God of the Jews, and of the Christians, and of the Muslims. I personally think it depends on how you are looking at the matter. Anthropologically speaking, He is the same God. In the theological sense, I think most people would agree on "No". He asked his pastor about this complicated question, and the old man thought about it. He finally said, "I'd hate to stand before God not having known Jesus."

That strikes me as an excellent answer.

I should not put words into either my preacher's mouth or his preacher before him, but in my thinking I don't dare decide what God would do, and certainly not what He should do. Not only is it not my decision to make, but I am certain I lack both the wisdom and the righteousness to make such a decision. Certainly the Bible provides guidance in such matters, and we can and should study and learn, but it makes me angry (I hope in a righteous way) when people talk as if they can tell God what to do, and when.

My preacher says something else that is meaningful regarding this: "My job is to preach, not judge. That's God's job, not mine."