Zero Unemployment

Posted by Bill on January 7, 2012

“Look around you! Vast fields are ripening all around us and are ready now for the harvest. The harvesters are paid good wages, and the fruit they harvest is people brought to eternal life” (John 4:35b-36a).

Unemployment - not in God's economy Unemployment can be a debilitating experience. Several years ago in Poland, the nation’s unemployment was running high at an alarming 20%. Young college graduates were forced to leave home to search for employment in neighbouring countries. Unemployment hits some people very hard … robbing them of peace, satisfaction, fulfilment and joy.

Unemployment exists today in two realms; the material and the spiritual. Regardless of the circumstances in the world, the Lord promises to deliver every believer from material and spiritual poverty. Jesus promises, “Your Heavenly Father already knows all your needs, and He will give you all you need from day to day if you live for Him and make the Kingdom of God your primary concern” (Matthew 6:32b-33). If the Lord promises to deliver us from poverty, why are so many of His people living impoverished lives?

God’s promise to “give you all you need” is conditional upon … “if you live for Him and make the Kingdom of God your primary concern.” Like a number of other promises the Lord has given for our well being, there are qualifying conditions that need to be satisfied before grace benefits can flow to us. Whilst material poverty may not be a choice, spiritual poverty is. If we choose to fulfil God’s conditional requirements, He will keep His promises – it’s as simple as that. And God has never reneged on a promise! He has an impeccable reputation of being a promise-keeping God.

Whilst it’s a tragic situation for people in life (in general) who are unemployed, it’s more tragic for those of God’s family (His Church). The church is the only institution on earth that can guarantee zero unemployment for its members. Reliable surveys show that in the church today, unemployment is running at around 90-95%! Scripture teaches that if believers are willing to step-up and serve, instead of sitting back to observe, they will be paid handsomely by the Lord. He says (above), “The harvesters are paid good wages.” Hundreds of years of political and traditional influences have kept spiritual harvesters from labouring in His field. Because many believers are not doing, many are not receiving.

Peter says, “God has given gifts to each of you from His great variety of spiritual gifts. Manage them well so that God’s generosity can flow through you” (1 Peter 4:10). Many believers in the world either have no idea what their gifts are, or have chosen not to manage their gifts well. It’s no wonder many of God’s people are living in poverty when they could be enjoying His promised provisions.

Small Groups (or Home Groups, Cell Groups, Life Groups – whatever you chose to call them) are the ideal place for believers to discover, use and develop their gifts. Spiritual gifts are God’s special grace abilities, given to each of us at the time of conversion. Let’s lead others into the harvest field … where the harvesters are paid good wages, and the fruit they harvest is people brought to eternal life.

The harvest field is where God’s generosity flows freely, and it’s the place where there is zero unemployment.

A critical distinction

Posted by Bill on November 26, 2011

One of the most important lessons I’ve learnt from following the Lord is to distinguish between sinner and sin. The Lord has helped me in situations of disappointment and hurt by others to carefully separate sinner and sin in my mind before reacting. I’ve learnt not to throw out the baby with the dirty bathwater … the baby is the object of God’s love!

A great example for me with regards to this is the incident where Peter denied the Lord, three times, after His arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 26:69-75). After the rooster had crowed, Jesus didn’t show Peter a look of rejection, nor did the Lord withdraw His love from him. To the contrary, after His resurrection, the Lord cooked breakfast at the Sea of Galilee for His dear friend, Peter, and reaffirmed His unconditional agape love for him (John 21:15-17).

In restoring Peter from his mega-failure and guilt, the Lord demonstrated the importance and power of making the distinction between sinner and sin. Through this undeserved act of grace, Peter was able to rise from his failure and follow His Lord, and became one of the greatest church leaders of the New Testament era.

Friends, with more than thirty years of discipleship experience behind me I still feel I am no more than a novice in the area of modelling the Lord’s practice of making the distinction between sinner and sin. In this matter, I have failed many times with those in my family; with friends; work associates; and others in the church. My natural default is to reject both sinner and sin, denying the sinner of the love of Christ through my life. However, my desire is to be like Christ in every way … my desire is to love sinners, no matter what they do to me. (“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” Romans 5:8).

The Lord succeeded in His earthly mission through practicing the importance of making the “critical distinction” between sinner and sin – He died to save us, not our sins!

The view gets better as we climb higher!

Posted by Bill on November 19, 2011

I have chosen to stand on a rock-solid belief that the view gets better as we climb higher with the Lord. With that belief I am determined to do all that is within my control to climb higher to the next level … and the next, and the next. From where I presently stand, I am excited by the amazing things I believe the Lord has in store for His old, but not worn out, servant.

Now, before I make the mistake of racing ahead, enthusiastic and emotionally charged, to take hold of the blessings that have been reserved for me I need to pause for a moment to remind myself of a critical principle of the upward climb … the principle of cost. Truly, I don’t expect to progress in my climb without having to pay something. Jesus, our go-ahead God, came into our world to elevate us with Him, in life and ministry. Although most people in life are happy to see their lives moving forward and higher, only few are prepared to pay the price.

For those who are serious about journeying with Jesus to the top, He says from the Book of Luke … “If you want to be my follower you must love me more than your own father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters – yes, more than your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple.” “So no one can become my disciple without giving up everything for me” Luke 14:26b, 33. Twice in this passage, Jesus says we cannot follow Him unless we are prepared to meet the necessary demand – to love Him more than everyone and everything in our lives. Loving Jesus “more than …” is the principle cost of climbing higher in your faith.

How do we prove to Jesus that we love Him more than anyone and anything, including our own lives? He says in the Book of John … “If you love me, keep my commandments” John 14:15. Before we can “keep His commandments” we must sacrifice whatever stands in our way.

Friends, at no stage of our climb with Jesus should we entertain the thought that pushing on to the next level is going to happen without having to pay a high cost. The Lord never asks from us anything but that which is necessary to accomplish His will in our lives. He wants to take us up to the summit of our climb. And, loving Him more than anyone and everything else is the bottom-line cost of our rise. The Lord sacrificed everything, including His life, to come down to where we once were; that place where were held captive and blackened by our sin – to free us and lead us up to the summit of our potential in Him. Why? Because He loves us, more than His own life!

Would you like to go to the next level of your climb in your relationship with the Lord (in your marriage, parenting, leadership, ministry, and mission) where the view is tons better than from where you presently stand (John 10:10b)? If your answer is “yes”, you must sacrifice whatever stands in your way, and obey Him.

Dear friends … the view gets better as we climb higher with Him!

Meeting needs … a key to harvesting

Posted by Bill on September 23, 2011

Open Bible Church - California, Trinidad & Tobago

David Cho is the pastor of Yoido Full Gospel Chapel, the largest church in the world (700,000+), situated in Seoul, Korea. Cho attributes the success of his church to meeting practical needs in the lives of unchurched friends. He encourages his cell leaders, and the members of his church, to find a need and meet it. In a 1993 interview with Carl George (respected small groups authority), Cho explained his strategy of winning the lost through meeting practical needs. He said:

“We have 50,000 cell groups and each group will love two people to Christ within the next year. They select someone who’s not a Christian, whom they can pray for, love, and serve. They bring meals, help sweep out the person’s store – whatever it takes to show they really care for them … After three or four months of such love, the hardest soul softens up and surrenders to Christ” (‘Home Cell Group Explosion’ by Joel Comiskey).

While serving with Maadi Community Church, in Cairo, Victoria Garshong, one of our cell pastors who returned to Ghana wrote, concerning her ministry to orphan children …

Dear Pastor Bill,

I would like you to know the progress we have made so far with the Kids’ Ministry. Last two weeks we had our debut meeting in my house. My mother agreed for us to use the house for a sleep over. On Friday, November 8, I went and picked some of the kids after school at vantage points. Other children were brought in by their parents, and others came by themselves. In all, there were about twelve children to form the outreach team to go on our first mission trip to an orphanage. This will be done on the weekend of December 23. We intend to go to the orphanage to help out with house chores, offer baby care and fellowship with them. Your prayer support is urgently needed.

Victoria

Friends, Victoria was passionate and dedicated in her ministry to reaching out to lost children in her harvest field. She had latched on to a powerful key to successful harvesting. Victoria, like David Cho, chose to focus God’s love on meeting needs in the lives of young orphan children in her community.

Concerning this important element of evangelism, the Lord says, “If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love in words or tongue but with actions and in truth” (1 John 3:17-18).

Friends, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is always concerned with meeting the needs of others – it’s a key to successful harvesting!

Jesus says, you’ve got to be connected!

Posted by Bill on June 25, 2010

Our apartment building in Maadi

Being in Egypt wasn’t my idea – I was busy planning my retirement on the Gold Coast in Australia when the Lord disturbed “my” good plans and called my wife and me to this far away desert land. What did the Lord have in mind for an old, worn out, geriatric foot-soldier like me?

read on →