Tue, 01 Oct 2024 13:33:50 -0700WeeblySun, 08 Oct 2023 01:53:11 GMThttp://acocw-international.org/journal/message-from-our-founder   The call to start this organization came on mission in Haiti. Strangely to me at the time, the topic that God started to work with me on was the topic of true investment.  The "Parable of the Talents" in Matthew 25 is focused on investment. Three servants were entrusted with their masters money while he was away. The passage says they were all given different amounts, "Each one according to his ability".  The two faithful servants went and put the money to use "trading with the same", and doubled their masters money. Part of the many truths Jesus was expounding to his hearers in this parable Jesus states plainly in the book of Luke when he said "to whom much is given, much is required."  All of these scriptures came with a glaring truth to me.
  
  After hitting rock bottom I turned my life over to Jesus many years ago. He immediately picked me up off of the ground, broke every chain that was holding me down in life, and transformed me into a new person with a plan and a purpose for my life. He began to elevate me in every conceivable way. Living in America, I rapidly went from nothing left, No job, no license, no house, no friends, no family, to having a successful remodeling business of my own with a place to rent, with a truck and enclosed trailer, a van, and a small gas efficient car I used depending on the daily tasks I had to complete that day. 

  So there was that truth staring me in the face. The fact that I had been given MUCH, and the day that I met Jesus, much would be required of me. When that day comes, it is what we produced for him that will count and it will be held right up next to what he invested in us. When he waves his hand, all of the bank accounts, the cars, the boats, the vanity, the excess, the things we produced for ourselves, will vanish away. What would His 'return on investment' look like if today was my day that He came to settle accounts? I suddenly had a greater urgency in producing a return for Him. One that would remain when everything else fades away. 

  This is where I began to understand the concept of true investment. Just like with any investing, certain things produce more return than others. When you give five dollars to a homeless man, that five dollars is added to your heavenly account as a return on the investment to Jesus.  However, when you help to put a covering on a place of worship, day after day, week after week, as that roof shields the people within, praises are going up to the Lord. People are being protected, and His kingdom is advancing. Deposits are being added to your heavenly account long after you've moved on to the next eternal investment. As the eternal investments begin to compound, your return for the Lord, begins to multiply. 

   I remember once in Haiti when a Haitian pastor said to another team member with a loving smile, "What's mine is yours brother, and what's yours is mine." To be honest I was offended in that. I thought to myself, "Well that would be a pretty good deal for YOU now wouldn't it?"  But I felt that prick in my heart that what he said was supposed to be right. It was not the truth in my own heart at that time however. We would do anything for our closest immediate family members. We even do say "What's mine is yours, and what's yours is mine." Yet Jesus, always looking at life through an eternal, and Kingdom perspective asked "Who is my mother? and who are my brethren?..For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother."

 The Bible says we are ONE body and members in particular. Would you go into town ring shopping for a new diamond ring for one of your fingers, while another one of your fingers had a tight band around it and was being suffocated and beginning to turn blue? Would you not run to a kitchen or anywhere to look for something to free your dying finger first?

   Freeing the parts of Christ's Body that are suffocating and dying will take more than one person or organization. It takes more than one finger or one ear. Paul said in Ephesians 4, "Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work."  It takes both hands, and both feet, both eyes and both ears, both you and both me. The entire Body of Christ working together. Imagine if the love and the unity of this family were on display for the hopeless believers and non believers alike. Most of the lost people of this generation are not looking for a great ten point sermon to open their eyes. It's true love that they are searching for. Not the kind of love that the world has to offer them. The kind of love you only find in God. 

 Our focus with this mission is helping our brothers and sisters. Not only the ones in poverty and in need of physical aid, but also with ones who have been given much, and are seeking a good place to invest that will bring an eternal return. That we might shed abroad the love of Christ for the lost to see our true love one to another.

"My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth." (1 John 3:18)

 From the acocw family to yours, God Bless.


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