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A Year of Increase?
I always enjoy the new year. It is like a fresh sheet of paper free from marks and wrinkles. It is a time to reflect over last year, note what worked and what didn’t and plan for the coming year. I have just recently opened a new 2004/2005 calendar and transferred the information from my 2003/2004 calendar and filed it away. I have pondered the year that has just passed and looked ahead at the next 12 months, what we have planned and what we need to get done. I thought I would share a few thoughts I had on the coming year and starting off right. God has been dealing with me in a number of these areas and I thought perhaps some of these things would be a help to someone else as well.
As we start the new year I think there are some things that we need to have Right in order to have a good year.
“Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” Matthew 6:25-34
I think we need to start the year with the right priorities. Far to often we plan our lives out to the last detail and then see where there is room for God. Far to few people in our churches have any idea the blessings that come along with being in the center of God’s will. If you are saved and on your way to heaven, realize what it took for that to happen. The sinless Son of God had to come to this earth and lay down his life so that we might have a way to heaven. I Corinthians tells us that we have been bought with a price. That price was high, but Jesus never complained about it, yet today we who claim heaven as our home and Christ as our Saviour can find little time to give back to him.
Shortly before Jesus ascended back to heaven he gathered the early church and gave them what we know as the great commission, Various parts of this message are recorded in each of the Gospels and in the book of Acts as well.
Matthew 28:18-20:
“And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven
and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things
whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of
the world. Amen.”
Mark 16:15:
“And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.”
Luke 24:47
“And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.”
“Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath
sent me, even so send I you.”
“But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall
be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the
uttermost part of the earth.”
It is very clear form these and other passages that the focus of the Lord’s people and His churches should be to get the Gospel to lost people. Not entertainment, not carry in meals, not bazaars and bake sales but our focus needs to be getting the Gospel out.
There are 6.3 billion people in the world and about 145,000 “Christian” Missionaries (Note: these are missionaries that are not Catholic, Mormon, Jehovah witness or any other cult, and the word Christian should be interpreted very loosely) If the world is to be reached, each of those 145,000 missionaries would have to reach 4.3 million people. These are very long odds, but they are about to be longer. It would be quite naďve to believe that all of those missionaries are preaching the Gospel. Odds are good that probably half of those 145,000 missionaries are preaching the Gospel, which makes the number each one needs to reach more like 8 ˝ million.
Clearly we need to focus our attention on what God intended the focus of our churches to be, getting the gospel out.
I want to carry this thought over into February with a few more thoughts under the same heading.
Because of Calvary,
David Iseminger
Romans 10:13-15