How firm a foundation,

Ye saints of the Lord is laid for your faith in his excellent word.

How do you know if someone is really a Christian or not?

Well, that's a great question, isn't it?

And you know, our teacher, Dr. J. Vernon McGee discusses that in the study today on through the Bible.

As we're going to learn, God's word describes two marks of identification that can help us be

discerning. We'll also learn about the two common character traits of someone who follows Jesus.

In Dr. McGee's introduction to First John, he told us John was a pastor of the church in Ephesus, which the Apostle Paul helped to start.

Well, it's doubtful that Ephesus or any other church in John's day asked for a resume from a prospective pastor.

Years ago, a listener sent Dr. McGee a newspaper article that puts the calling of a pastor

into a New Testament context.

Here's Dr. McGee to share it.

And it came out of the column of Dear Abbey.

And the title of the column was, would you hire this preacher?

And this is the letter that was apparently sent to it. It says one of the toughest tasks a church faces is choosing a good minister.

A member of an official board undergoing this painful process finally lost his patience.

He'd watched the Pastoral Relations Committee reject applicant after applicant for some fault,

alleged or otherwise.

It was time for a bit of soul-searching on the part of the committee.

So he stood up and read a letter purporting to be from another applicant.

And this is the letter.

Gentlemen, understanding your pulpit is vacant, I should like to apply for the position. I have many qualifications.

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