Phil's Lesson

Each week I get an email summarizing the lesson that was taught in Connection Class back home at First Baptist Hurst. Our teacher, Phil is amazing! Well, this week I thought the lesson sounded great and wanted to post it. I bolded the things that stood out to me.
LESSON:
Phil started the lesson by changing the question he asked us to discuss last week. He asked us to talk at each table about what is more important to us than money. Some of the items he mentioned after that discussion were salvation, the power of faith (capability to believe that God can do things we can't do), prayer, hope, happiness, joy, family, friends, health and our reputation. None of us would give up what we have to be someone like Donald Trump who is a millionaire. Jesus was not known because he gave money. He gave other things but never money. Phil referred to the story in Acts 3: 1-8. This demonstrated the wisdom of beggars that position themselves where they think people of compassion will be. In this case, the beggar was told that he would be given the ability to walk instead of money. Many times we really can't imagine receiving more than the immediate need. In this case, the man needed money to eat and never thought about being able to walk. The lessons that Phil shared today were 1) Ministry opportunities may sometimes disrupt our religious plans. Sometimes God puts opportunities in our path to make sure our commitment is stronger than our routine. We need to remember that sometimes our family, neighbors or friends may need us more than we need to be in church. 2) In our commitment to ministry we may have to transition past what people want to what people need (the begger would have settled for money instead of walking). Many people settle for less than what God wants for them. God wants to move folks to a higher level. The good that we do must always be a means for people to know Jesus Christ. We should always avoid the temptation to do something short of that. 3) When we do good we must avoid the temptation to be the hero. The person needs to see Jesus, not us. The early chapters in Acts contain stories of how Peter got in trouble for healing and then in Acts 14 Paul and Barnabas were looked at as gods for healing. They replied "We are but men". We need to remember that what we do good is the compassion of Christ flowing through us.