Currently not being added to, but you are welcome to read previous entries.
 
The Pastor’s Corner is written by the pastor of Coronado Bible Church.
 

Risk-Free Investing (Part 3)

In Mark Chapter 4, Jesus invited His followers to share in the joy of spreading the kingdom. We’ve looked at two of His parables under the title, “Risk-Free Investing.” So far we’ve learned that God doubles our investments and guarantees the growth. Today we see that He takes the smallest investments and transforms them into something great. Here’s Mark 4:30-32,

Again Jesus said, “What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest seed you plant in the ground. Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds of the air can perch in its shade.”

Do you think Jesus’ followers had any clue about the magnitude of what God was going to do through their imperfect, faltering human, efforts? No way!

Perhaps you’ve heard of the great evangelist of the late 1800s, D. L. Moody. When Moody was 17 and unable to find work, he moved to Boston to work in an uncle’s shoe store. One of the uncle’s requirements was that Moody attend Church. Moody’s Sunday School teacher Edward Kimball found him indifferent to the things of God. Never-the-less he went to the young man’s workplace and shared the Gospel with him. Kimball left totally disheartened … thinking he’d thoroughly botched the presentation. But in time, Moody gave his heart and his entire life to Jesus. Kimball’s mustard seed investment grew into a thriving gospel ministry that reached around the globe, introducing thousands to Jesus. It also grew into Moody Bible Institute, a school that still trains pastors, missionaries and evangelists.

In 1956, five young men gave their lives trying to take the Gospel to the Waudoni Indians of Ecuador. The mustard seed of their faith planted in an Amazonian riverbed, watered with their own blood seemed a tragic waste. But God has the final word on our investments in His kingdom.  Not only were the Waudoni reached for Christ, those missionaries’ sacrifice inspired thousands of young men and women to invest their lives for the Gospel. You might object, “Giving your life is hardly a small investment!” You’re right … but nobody could have foreseen the disproportionate growth that came from their faithfulness. What followed has been called the largest mission movement of our century.

None of us knows what God will accomplish through one act of obedience. But we have this parable that tells us that He takes small investments and makes them mighty in His kingdom. What is it that’s keeping you from investing your life in His kingdom? Do you feel too small, too sinful, too inept? I hope you’re encouraged to know that no investment is too small for God to turn it into something great!
 
 


2019-10-27 – Fishermen & Pharisees

Luke 5:1 – 6:11



Risk-Free Investing (Part 2)

I remember the first seeds Sue planted after we were married. They were Impatiens and came in a wedding card someone had given us. We planted them in an egg carton and put it in the kitchen window where they’d get proper warmth and light. We watered them according to the package instructions and waited for that first sign of green. A week went by and another and another … and after about a month, I thought, “Maybe I misread the package. Maybe they’re called Impatience.” Those seeds never did sprout.

Years later, Sue planted Impatiens again. The sower was the same, potting soil again, similar container…. but that spring she had hundreds of plants. Where was the difference? In the seed. Some seed is sterile, and some seed contains the miraculous ability to produce life. We fertilize and hydrate and cultivate and aerate and stand on our head with a magnifying glass day and night, but if there is no life in the seed, our efforts are in vain.

Last week we learned from Jesus that no one who invests in the Kingdom of God loses. In fact, you receive back all you put in with interest. The only person who loses is the one who never invests. In His next parable, Jesus taught a humbling but encouraging lesson about Kingdom investing. You’re not responsible for the results … only the investment.

Jesus also said, “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces grain–first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.” Mark 4:26-29

I believe the Apostle Paul had this teaching in mind when he wrote, I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. (l Corinthians 3:6-7)

Often in Jesus’ teaching, “seed” equals the Word of God. This is certainly what Paul was referring to. The Gospel, like fertile seed, has intrinsic power for life. When the Word is sown into people’s lives, life and growth will result according to God’s will. God has given us the privilege of sharing the Kingdom message, but He has not burdened us with the responsibility of making it grow. That’s His job! The only way we can fail is by failing to scatter the seed … the Good News about Jesus Christ. Once again, our every investment for the Kingdom is guaranteed!

 
 


2019-10-20 – A Lovely Attitude

Mark 7:24-30



2019-09-15 Flames and Ferocity

Daniel 3 & 6