{"id":799,"date":"2015-07-30T08:57:41","date_gmt":"2015-07-29T22:57:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sdreformedbaptist.org.au\/?p=799"},"modified":"2015-08-04T22:34:33","modified_gmt":"2015-08-04T12:34:33","slug":"if-the-trumpet-makes-an-uncertain-sound","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sdreformedbaptist.org.au\/?p=799","title":{"rendered":"If the trumpet makes an uncertain sound"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Church bulletin for August<\/p>\n<p>Prayer was answered for my trip to NZ. I arrived back as planned on July 20 \u2013 kept safe while travelling and blessed by the ministry and fellowship of some wonderful Christians. NZ is certainly a beautiful place. No debilitating summers; no possibility of brown snakes in the back yard; endless miles of breathtaking scenery. There is however the constant threat of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. \u00a0So while it\u2019s beautiful across the ditch, it isn\u2019t paradise. The accent also tests one\u2019s endurance. The Kiwi accent (or as they would say, iccent) is most evident in the vowels. \u201cThit is a bug hit\u201d\u2026\u2026. \u201cthat is a big hat\u201d.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"line-height: 1.5em;\">Anyway I managed to survive and didn\u2019t need to preach through a translator. Accents have long fascinated me. Growing up with English parents who had friends from different parts of the UK, I was familiar with the regional accents. I could distinguish Dublin from Belfast; I could follow without much trouble Glaswegian and Geordie. It always surprised me when Australians struggled with British accents. A friend once asked a bus driver what time the bus was due to leave, he was told \u201cnoo\u201d. After repeating the question and receiving the same answer, another passenger explained that the Scottish driver was saying \u201cnow\u201d. \u00a0It reminds us that if speech is not clear to the hearer then it is of no use. 1 Cor 14:8-9, <\/span><i style=\"line-height: 1.5em;\">\u201c<\/i><i style=\"line-height: 1.5em;\">For if the trumpet makes an uncertain sound, who will prepare for battle? <sup>9<\/sup>So likewise you, unless you utter by the tongue words easy to understand, how will it be known what is spoken? For you will be speaking into the air.\u201d<\/i><span style=\"line-height: 1.5em;\">\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>There are some important lessons here as we seek to take the Gospel to those around us:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>We should know the Bible well so that we can convey it well; you can\u2019t explain to others clearly what you don\u2019t know yourself (Col 4:6; 1Peter 3:15).<\/li>\n<li>We should seek to explain truth in a straightforward, simple and accurate manner avoiding clich\u00e9s and lofty theological language (1 Cor 2:1-5).<\/li>\n<li>We should avoid getting bogged down in digressions which cloud the central issue of salvation (1 Tim 1:4; Titus 3:9).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"line-height: 1.5em;\">We don\u2019t need to be clever, we need to be clear. <\/span><i style=\"line-height: 1.5em;\">\u201cUnless you utter by the tongue words easy to understand, how will it be known what is spoken? For you will be speaking into the air.\u201d\u00a0 <\/i><i style=\"line-height: 1.5em;\">\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"line-height: 1.5em;\">Andrew\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Church bulletin for August Prayer was answered for my trip to NZ. I arrived back as planned on July 20 \u2013 kept safe while travelling and blessed by the ministry &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-799","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sdreformedbaptist.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/799","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sdreformedbaptist.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sdreformedbaptist.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sdreformedbaptist.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sdreformedbaptist.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=799"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sdreformedbaptist.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/799\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":803,"href":"https:\/\/sdreformedbaptist.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/799\/revisions\/803"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sdreformedbaptist.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=799"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sdreformedbaptist.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=799"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sdreformedbaptist.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}