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Do you think Dr. Billy Graham will have rewards in heaven? I will bet your answer is ‘Yes’. You can share in those rewards. You may already be invested in Dr. Grahams ministry. If you have done something to help Dr. Graham along the way, you will definitely share the reward. It is so unfortunate that people do not understand this spiritual principle. It reminds me of a story of a young evangelist. He was just getting started in Evangelism. He preached a week long revival in a church in Louisiana and the pastor had been taking a love offering for him in every service. The people loved this young evangelist and they gave liberally. The love offering was over a thousand dollars and growing {50 years ago}.The deacons called an emergency meeting. The emergency was the amount of the offering…it is too much they reasoned….this money could be used for other things. The pastor protested, “My integrity is on the line, I have told people each night that the money will go to the evangelist.” It turned into a heated argument. The evangelist was praying in the next room and he overheard the discussion. He stuck his head in the doors and said, “I have a solution, you keep it all.” He refused to take anything but that is not the end of the story. This unknown country evangelist became famous. He preached hundreds of revivals all over the country and thousands have surrendered their life to Christ through this man’s ministry. They could have invested in his ministry in the early stages and shared in his reward but they choose to be selfish.
Missionaries, Evangelist, Pastors, all Christian ministers need support. God’s servants are devoted to helping people not making money. I was moved to tears yesterday as the man who has supported our ministry longer than any other person {42 years} pulled me aside and thanked me for devoting my life to Christ. He said many kind things to me, some to sacred to repeat even if I could. God has blessed me with a bad memory and to be honest, I can’t remember what he said word for word and that is a good thing or I might try to repeat them. Suffice it to say, it was an encouraging speech about helping others. He is most definitely a partner in our ministry.
One more part to the story. My mission yesterday was to help a couple of widows but I did not realize when I left home that I would need help myself. When I loaded the tractor to return home, I had a low tire on the trailer. So I drove over to my friends tractor shed where they have an air compressor. I couldn’t find the chuck so I had to call his nephew. He came right away. He found a nail in the tire. In five minutes he plugged the tire and I was good to go. That’s when his uncle and my friend came out to talk to me. Sometimes we need help helping other people. All the way home I thought about how God used this family to help me help someone else.
P.S. I sure wish I knew how to get people to understand that giving to God’s kingdom is an investment, not a loss. People don’t trust preachers to give them financial advice and they are ignorant of what the bible teaches about stewardship. They will end up like the church in Louisiana: ashamed and heart broken that they didn’t invest.
Ruth Livingston was promoted this morning between 7:00 and 8:00. No definite arrangements at this time. June just told me a few minutes ago about Joe Eaton’s sister [Hazel Parker] passing away. By the way, I had a lot of help on yesterday’s project: Keith and Judy furnished the tractor. It takes a TEAM to minister. There is a I in sIn and one in PrIde but there is no I in TEAM.
Michael Hembree came by yesterday to bring me something and he talked to June. He told her that he enjoyed her solo Sunday and asked when she would do it again. This is vintage June and Michael. June says “Never!” Then Michael says, “OK!” You are not going to catch Michael without a comeback. I think it is hilarious. I wish I had been here.
Hey, I have been wanting to show you our church softball team, the DANVILLE BAPTIST BOMBERS and here they are: Kevin Callahan is not pictured. They must be in first place, I see the single finger raised like we are number one. Hannah says their games are more entertaining than T-Ball. It is an interesting team: 9 catchers and 2 pitchers and one Designated hitter, that would be Kelvin. Perhaps the finger pointed upward is a prayer, “God, we need your help.” David Wood is taking this thing serious, look at that straight face.
