NLT: Due. 9:4 After the Lord your God has done this for you, don’t say in your hearts, “The Lord has given us this land because we are such good people.”
Oh my! The Lord knew that blessings often distort the position of the receiver. The disposition of humility is not a given. It is a pursuit for all those who have found the Lord and are grateful for His blessing. We are blessed, not because of our goodness, ingenuity, or value, but because the Lord is faithful. The above warning still remains true: God gave because He is good. Not us.
Thomas Sowell, one of my most coveted thinkers, addressed the attitude of people who are given much and then believe they deserve it. He said, “When people get used to preferential treatment, equal treatment seems like discrimination.” He looked at the American way of life much like I see the Church. We have been given so much, and yet, we so easily believe that it is by virtue of our goodness. The Word refutes such vain thinking. In fact, the will of God may be for some to go through trials and hard times. Jesus said, John 13:16 “The servant is not greater than his master.”
Our giving and sacrifice is our blessing. It is more blessed to give than to receive. I know this sounds like a money conversation, but the reality is far from just a monetary lesson. Giving of our time; our energy; our talent; our ambition. Jack Hayford authored The Key to Everything. He wrote the key to everything is giving: forgiving, giving in or giving up. When we turn over our lives to the Lord, He uses it for His Kingdom.
This house has been built for the reaching and teaching of people. Our vision was to simply give our community an opportunity to find an Apostolic church which preaches the Name of Jesus and the full Gospel of Jesus Christ. Our mission is to baptize as many as possible and to disciple as many as are willing. As Bro. MacLeod preached, there are 106,000 reasons (souls/people) for us to exist. God has brought us this far and it is His divine will for us to be the head and not the tail, so says His Word. It is His will for all to be saved. Our mission is His command: the Great Commission. He died on the Cross for the salvation of the very people we are seeking.
It is all because of Him. Our blessing is because of Him. Our purpose is because of Him. This church is because He ordained it; kept it; and provided for it. Psa 118:23 This is the LORD’S doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.
Pastor Jeffrey Harpole