There's a Crack in Your Armor Perry Stone

of complaining that he didn’t practice what he preached, we should ponder why what he preached didn’t defeat some of what’s being practiced. The answer is not simple; there’s not one answer that can explain the various failures. In and of itself the Bible is simply a book of printed words with a leather cover, as long as it just sits on the coffee table. When the book is read only for history, it becomes stories and instruction for the reader. However, if the words in the Bible are energized by faith and made alive to the reader by the quickening energy of the Holy Spirit, then they become effective and life transforming! The Bible can be preached and not believed, or preached and not practiced. Unless the words in the Bible are acted upon by the person who reads them, they will have no impact upon that person or upon the members and ministers in a church. Many times a well-known and respected minister or evangelist has stood at the pinnacle of world recognition, only to be thrust into a pit of despair as the result of a moral failure or a self-inflicted sin. When that happens, his most loyal followers begin scattering from him like frightened people fleeing the radiation from a leaking power plant. These human cracks in chosen vessels are one thing to endure in private , but they are quite another thing when exposed in public . As believers we must realize that men of God are first men and then men of God . When Christ chose His twelve disciples, many were professional fishermen, familiar with catching fish. Jesus gave instructions to follow Him, and He would make them fishers of men (Matt. 4:19). Jesus had to first take them before He could make them—forming character that would