Investing in God’s Global Fund

Introduction (5m)

Investing in God’s Global Fund

Over the past few weeks, we have discovered that God wants us to use our money to help fulfil our purposes in life.

God wants you to use some of your money in worship, to show him you love him and prove he is the first priority in your life.

God also wants you to use some of your money to invest in the loving relationships you have with people here.

This often takes the form of practical help.

This morning, we're going to concentrate on the fact that God has a mission for your life.

God has a mission for you in the world.

He has something unique he wants you to fulfil.

And God wants you to use some of your money to invest in this mission.

He wants you to invest in the Global Fund.

Bible Reading

MESSAGE NOTES

Isaiah 49:1-7

Isaiah 49:1–7 MSG

Listen, far-flung islands, pay attention, faraway people: God put me to work from the day I was born. The moment I entered the world he named me. He gave me speech that would cut and penetrate. He kept his hand on me to protect me. He made me his straight arrow and hid me in his quiver. He said to me, “You’re my dear servant, Israel, through whom I’ll shine.” But I said, “I’ve worked for nothing. I’ve nothing to show for a life of hard work. Nevertheless, I’ll let God have the last word. I’ll let him pronounce his verdict.” “And now,” God says, this God who took me in hand from the moment of birth to be his servant, To bring Jacob back home to him, to set a reunion for Israel— What an honor for me in God’s eyes! That God should be my strength! He says, “But that’s not a big enough job for my servant— just to recover the tribes of Jacob, merely to round up the strays of Israel. I’m setting you up as a light for the nations so that my salvation becomes global!” God, Redeemer of Israel, The Holy of Israel, says to the despised one, kicked around by the nations, slave labor to the ruling class: “Kings will see, get to their feet—the princes, too— and then fall on their faces in homage Because of God, who has faithfully kept his word, The Holy of Israel, who has chosen you.”

Explanation (5m)

Using Our Money to Win the World for Jesus

God wants you to use some of your money to win the world for Jesus.

God has always cared about the whole world.

You only have to you read the Bible to see God's ongoing concern for spreading the gospel into distant lands:

Isaiah 42:10 NLT

Sing a new song to the Lord! Sing his praises from the ends of the earth! Sing, all you who sail the seas, all you who live in distant coastlands.

Isaiah 52:10 NLT

The Lord has demonstrated his holy power before the eyes of all the nations. All the ends of the earth will see the victory of our God.

It is right that we focus on the needs of our surrounding community.

But our responsibility is greater than just our neighbourhood.

God gave The Salvation Army the mission of winning the world for Jesus.

He wants the Salvation Army to have a global influence.

That's why the verses from our passage this morning resonate so well with us:

Isaiah 49:6 MSG

He says, “But that’s not a big enough job for my servant— just to recover the tribes of Jacob, merely to round up the strays of Israel. I’m setting you up as a light for the nations so that my salvation becomes global!”

And The Salvation Army that is to win the world for Jesus isn't someone else.

It's you.

It's me.

We have a responsibility spread the gospel here, there and everywhere.

You and I must fulfil the Great Commission:

Matthew 28:18–20 NLT

Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

That's why every year we give to the Self Denial Appeal.

That money is dispatched to our Partners in Mission in the four corners of the world in order to spread the gospel.

Our responsibility to win the world for Jesus is what motivates us to give in our Self-Denial Appeal.

That money is used by our International Development team to underwrite social projects throughout the world.

Using our Money to Help Others into Heaven

Why is this so important?

Because it helps you to extend your mission.

God asks you to take part of the money you earn and invest it in what he wants you to do on this earth.

In this way you invest in the life mission God created you for:

Luke 16:9 NLT

Here’s the lesson: Use your worldly resources to benefit others and make friends. Then, when your possessions are gone, they will welcome you to an eternal home.

God wants you to use some of your money to help other people get into heaven.

Just imagine.

When you die and you get to heaven there will be people who will welcome you there and say thank you for investing in me.

I'm in heaven because of you.

I'm going to be your friend for eternity.

Perhaps you bought them a Bible or a Christian book.

Perhaps you bought them a ticket for a conference or a retreat.

Perhaps it was simply giving to one of our international appeals to help spread the news around the world to someplace you've never even heard of or been to.

I cannot think of a better use of your money!

To know that somebody is going to be in heaven because of you.

To know that you have used some of your money to spread the good news.

To ensure that someone knows about God's Word.

If you knew the cure for cancer but you didn't tell anybody about it that would be criminal.

But you know how people can have a purpose in life.

You know how people can have their past forgiven.

You know how they can have a future in heaven.

Not to share that good news with them is criminal.

Application (5m)

Care About What God Cares About

It's all a matter of perspective.

It's all about what you care about the most.

The best thing you can do is to care about what God cares about.

What does he care about the most?

He wants everybody in the world to know him.

He wants every person, every country, every nation to have the opportunity to accept his love, to accept his forgiveness, to accept his grace and to accept what Jesus did for them.

And you know what?

If you decide that God's first concern is can be the first concern of your life, then God promises he's going to bless your life in ways you could never imagine:

Psalm 2:8 NLT

Only ask, and I will give you the nations as your inheritance, the whole earth as your possession.

If you want God's blessing on your life, if you want him to bless your family, if you want him to bless your health, if you want him to bless your finances, if you want him to bless your career then you must care about what God cares about most.

It's a question of perspective.

A critic once said of the church, "The Church is caught in the thickness of thin things".

Sometimes, we are in danger of making small things the big thing.

When we do that we ignore the big things that God cares about.

Your mission is not about ensuring that Maidenhead Corps survives.

It's not about ensuring that the UK remains a Christian country.

It's not even about the survival of the Salvation Army:

Isaiah 49:6 NLT

He says, “You will do more than restore the people of Israel to me. I will make you a light to the Gentiles, and you will bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.”

Remember, money is a tool to do good.

You can use that tool to store up treasure for eternity by investing in God's Treasury, in the Mutual Fund, and in the Global Fund.

When the world looks at you, when the world looks at this Corps, it should see the hope for the whosoever.

The Salvation Army has always focused on the poor and dispossessed.

The Salvation Army is all about including those who are usually first to be excluded.

The reason why purpose driven giving is so important is because the poor, more than any other group of people, are those without hope.

They live from day-to-day uncertain about tomorrow.

The gospel is a gospel of hope.

The gospel tells of Christ who has come to set us free.

It tells of the Christ who will come again to establish his righteous Kingdom.

The gospel is the story of the Christ in whom all things in heaven and earth will be united.

But the Kingdom has not been postponed.

The Christ who is to come in fullness at the end of time is the Christ who is here now.

The hope given in Christ is hope that is already at work transforming people’s lives.

Our job is to invest in this work and to help more people receive this Gospel and transform the present.

As we go through this self-denial season, let’s prayerfully consider how we invest in God’s Global Fund.

Next Steps

SB 322 - Lord, give me more soul-saving love

Lord, give me more soul-saving love, Send a revival from above, Thy mighty Spirit pour. The Army of salvation bless With righteousness and holiness, Pressed down and running o?er. 2 Spread Calvary?s great salvation fame, Make every tongue a living flame, Soul-saving truth inspire. With zeal inflame thy fighting host, Baptise us with the Holy Ghost, And set us all on fire. 3 Give power to speak thy conquering word, To wield the Spirit?s two-edged sword, And all Hell?s legions rout. O touch us with the living coal, And kindle fire in every soul That never will die out! William James Pearson (1832-1892) Used By Permission. CCL Licence No. 135015 Copied from The Song Book of The Salvation Army Song Number 322