Three Hopes

"Our hope is that, as your faith continues to grow, our area of activity among you will greatly expand, so that we can preach the gospel in regions beyond you." II Corinthians 10:15b-16

I think any Pastor who loves sheep would hope what Paul hopes for the Corinthians. Three hopes for any and all believers are....
1) Increasing faith
2) Expanding ministry
3) Spreading the Gospel.

All good stuff. They sure work together, huh? Seems that increasing our faith, would lead to expanding ministry, which would in turn be spreading the Gospel. First, our faith cannot remain stagnant; it must either expand or retract. If it does not grow, it will subside.
Do you remember your zeal when you first believed and how you wanted to tell the world and you were willing to do anything for Him? Those were wonder-filled days and these are still wonderful days. The expansion of ministry is essential too. That willingness to serve must be fed so we are hungry to do more and more for Him. We should never weary of doing good, or helping or volunteering or just caring for others. The last component in this progression is the spreading of the gospel.

At the conference I was attending last week a speaker said this; 'We must do good deeds to foster good will in order to share the good news effectively. Did you catch the 3 goods there? Good deeds, increases good will, which sets the stage for the good news. You have heard it said that 'faith without works is dead' or that 'a hungry person may hear the gospel with their stomach'. Also, the discouraged may hear the good news through some encouragement. So, I say this; let's increase our faith so we know what to say, then, let's reach out to people and show that we really care, then, let's be 'good-news people', with something good to say…….. Like, 'Jesus loves you, and so do I' He does you know. I hope you find that really encouraging today.

Pastor Fred

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