A Nugget from New Life Network
Scripture for the Day (May 22, 2018)
Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you. (Philippians 4:9)
As ministers, my wife and I have preached and taught the Word of God in many different kind of situations. We have been in many types of churches. We have been in numerous prisons and jails. We have been in home groups. We have been on the mission field. We have preached and sang at street fairs. We have served as Chaplains for secular organizations and preached in hotel ballrooms at business functions. We even preached once in a bar on a cruise ship going to the Bahamas. We have basically gone wherever God opened a door for us to go.
Some of the places we preached at had a lot of people, and some only had a few. Some places were on fire for God, and some were not. Some were exuberant in their worship, and some were very quiet. I personally like the on-fire exuberant ones but I don’t get to make that call. I learned a long time ago to not look at outward appearances. Sometimes, when it looks and feels like you are talking to a brick wall, that’s the very time God is doing a miraculous work in someone’s life. We are just the messengers and all we can do is be obedient to share those things we have seen and heard. One plants, one waters, but God is responsible for the increase.
If only one person in a meeting gets touched by God, should we consider that meeting a failure? Absolutely not!!! What if you were the person that led Billy Graham to the Lord? Billy Graham touched billions of people with the Gospel and most everyone knows who he was. But do you know who the person was that was responsible for Billy Graham coming to the Lord? Probably not. So, let’s take a quick look at that chain of events.
Edward Kimball was a volunteer Sunday school teacher that taught young boys. He had one boy that was a tough nut to crack. His name was Dwight L. Moody. Kimball had a burden for this young man and went to the shoe store where this boy worked and led him to the Lord in the stockroom of that shoe store. Dwight L. Moody went on to reach thousands of people for God on two separate continents.
A young man named Wilbur Chapman came to the Lord at one of Dwight L. Moody’s meetings and ended up reaching thousands of people as an evangelist. Billy Sunday gave his life to the Lord at one of Wilbur Chapman’s meetings. Billy Sunday went on to be a great evangelist and Mordecai Ham came to the Lord at one of his meetings. Mordecai Ham became a great evangelist and he was the one that led Billy Graham to the Lord at one of his meetings.
Do you get the point?
The power of one person sharing what they have seen and heard has a ripple effect that can effect millions and change the world! All it takes is for us to be willing to share those things that we have seen and heard.
In the business world, power and success is measured in the amount of money one makes, the wealth one accumulates, and the possessions one owns. Power in the Kingdom of God is not measured by that same currency. The currency of Heaven is souls because that is the only thing you can take with you when you leave this planet. The people you touch with the Gospel, or cause to be touched by the Gospel, are deposited in your Heavenly savings account. Edward Kimball is a rich man.
Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest. And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together. (John 4:35-36)
But Peter and John answered and said unto them, Whether it is right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard. (Acts 4:19-20)
For thou shalt be his witness unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard. (Acts 22:15)
That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. (1 John 1:3)
