“Who then will offer willingly, consecrating himself today to the LORD?”
--1 Chronicles 29:5b
Today’s verse is a question King David asked his people and it’s a question I want to ask you today.
Will you consecrate, will you dedicate yourself, to the Lord when it comes to giving to God’s Kingdom work?
“Now, Pastor,” you may say, “I just can’t afford to give to my church. I just can’t afford to support a missionary or Christian organization right now.”
Well, you know, I know it may feel this way. It may feel like you’re too strapped to give to God’s work. And I know that there are people who find themselves in an emergency situation financially right now.
But if I could, I’d like to make a case as to why now is the time… perhaps more than in recent memory… for you and me to dig deep to contribute towards Kingdom work in our world.
Because of the state of our economy, almost every person in this nation and in hundreds of nations around the world has been impacted financially. Some have lost jobs. Some have seen pay cuts. Some have seen their retirement account plummet. Every person I talk to these days seems to be affected in some way by the economy!
People are experiencing fear and uncertainty on a level that perhaps they never have before. And as a result, people are more open than ever to the gospel. They realized they’ve based their hope on something that’s fleeting… like a job, a stock portfolio, whatever. And they’re looking for something more, something that really lasts!
That’s why you and I must be more determined than ever to make sure these people can hear the Good News of the gospel. We can’t cut back now. We can’t scale back, not when there’s a hunger for truth like there is now.
So I’ll ask the question again that King David posed to the people of Israel: “Who then will offer willingly, consecrating himself today to the LORD?” Will you?
It’s my prayer that you will see the need in our world today, and willingly say, “Yes!”
WE MUST BE MORE DETERMINED THAN EVER TO MAKE SURE PEOPLE CAN HEAR THE GOOD NEWS OF THE GOSPEL.
Friday, July 05, 2019
by Dr. Paul Chappell
“We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain. (For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.)”
2 Corinthians 6:1–2
We live in a world that often devalues people. There is hatred and bigotry in abundance. And among those messages of worthlessness, it can sometimes be hard for us to really believe that God actually loves and values us. The offer of salvation by grace through faith, however, is a powerful measure of how God views our value.
The great evangelist J. Wilbur Chapman said, “I was standing the other day in Tiffany’s, in New York, and I overheard a woman asking to see some pearls. The salesman placed on the counter some wonderful pearls. I heard him say that the price was $17,000. When I looked at them, they seemed overwhelmingly splendid. This sum represented Tiffany’s estimate of the value of the pearls. You may say that your life is not worth very much, but I tell you that you are redeemed by the precious blood of Christ. I tell you that in the sight of God you are worth more than all the gold in the hills, all the diamonds in the fields.”
As great as the offer of salvation is, it must be personally accepted. And the time to make that decision is not at some unknown point in the future—it is today. There is no guarantee of tomorrow given to any of us. “Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away” (James 4:14). The accepted time God offers for salvation is right now.
Today's Growth Principle:
Because we do not know the future, it is the worst folly to put off receiving God’s gift of salvation until later.
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