Saturday, 4 January 2014

Invest in God's Missions: The Sea of Galilee or the Dead Sea

Posted by Admin GoodNews2Us | Posts under : Perkongsian

Invest in God's Missions: The Sea of Galilee or the Dead Sea

Posted: 02 Jan 2014 06:20 PM PST

"For your heart will always be where your riches are." (Matthew 6:21, GNB)

"God is our treasure. Since God is a mission-minded God,

therefore, if we invest our riches for missions

then our heart and mind are also in God,

the most valuable Treasure." (Richard Angelus)

Christians in Malaysia generally spent hundreds of ringgit every year to buy many different kind of Bible translations, Christian books, religious magazines, worship albums, concert tickets and t-shirts excessively but seldom (some never) investing their money to further the Kingdom of God and to reached out the lost, the needy and the poor neighbors around them. It's time to live a simple lifestyle having a heart and mind of Jesus. Concern and think the way He does for the unsaved – invest your life and possessions for the lost souls. Would you invest your money (prayer, time and even your life) from now on so that more people in Malaysia and beyond can hear the Good News of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ?

In his book The Challenge of Missions, Oswald J. Smith writes:

"When I was in Palestine, I travelled from Jerusalem down the Jericho Road. I passed the ruins of the ancient city of Jericho and went on to the Jordan River where Jesus was baptized. I wanted to swim across the Jordan at that point and I did so. Then I continued to the Dead Sea where I had another swim. Travelling north, I came at length to the Sea of Galilee and there, too, I indulged in a swim. As I stood on the shore, I thought of the difference between the two bodies of water; one, the Sea of Galilee, teeming with life, the other, the Dead Sea, stagnant and lifeless. 'Why,' I asked myself, 'the different?'

The Dead Sea takes in and takes in, but it never gives out; hence it is stagnant. The Sea of Galilee takes in but it also gives out; hence, it is filled with life; and its water is fresh.

There you have a perfect illustration of the missionary church and the church that is not interested in missions. The latter takes in but it uses everything on itself. It never gives out. Hence it is filled with all sorts of loathsome creatures like a stagnant pool – criticism, gossip, fault-finding, division, and strife, etc. The missionary church takes in, but it also gives out. Hence it is alive and aggressive and God's blessing rests upon it.

The same is true of the individual. The one who keeps everything for himself and refuses to share it with others, becomes a stagnant pool – a Dead Sea, a blessing to no one. The one who invests in foreign missionary work (here I, Richard, would like to add: in any missionary work, local or international), is living an abundant life. It is for us to decide whether our lives are to be symbolized by the Dead Sea or the Sea of Galilee."

Invest in missions.

Flow out blessings, don't be a stagnant pool.

Be like the Sea of Galilee, not the Dead Sea.

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.