Thank God for Ordinary Christians

By Dana Slingluff

General Eisenhower once rebuked one of his Generals for referring to a soldier as "just a Private." He reminded him that the Army could function better without its Generals than it could without its foot soldiers. "If this war is won," he said, "it will be won by the Privates." In the same way, the common, ordinary, one-talent Christians are the very backbone of the church. We have our great evangelists, our super congregations led by dynamic elders, and our wealthy brethren who are able to finance great works. But, if the work of the Lord is to be done, if the gospel is to be taken to the lost, it will be the "ordinary" Christians who will do it.

Source:
Pulpit Helps (date unknown)

The Name "Christian"

Henry Ward Beecher: "Let me speak in the language of heaven and call you Christians."
Albert Barnes: "These divisions should be merged into the holy name Christian."
Martin Luther: "I pray you leave my name alone. Do not call yourselves Lutherans, but Christian."
John Wesley: "I wish the name Methodist might never be mentioned again, but lost in eternal oblivion."
Charles Spurgeon: "I say of the Baptist name, let it perish, but let Christ' name last forever. I look forward with pleasure to the day when there will not be a Baptist living."
Peter, the Apostle: "Yet, if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this name" (1 Pet. 4:16).
Paul, the Apostle: "Now, this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ. Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were you baptized in the name of Paul?" (1 cor. 1:12-13).
Luke, the writer of Acts: "...And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch" (Acts 11:26).

Source:
Pulpit Helps (date unknown)