Preacher: Pastor Elie Hamuli
Receiving Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior means actively being out and about for the Kingdom of God. This involves a genuine passion for and involvement in the salvation of others. A born-again Christian willingly participates in various ministry activities, such as sharing the Gospel, caring for the sick, engaging in youth events, evangelistic campaigns, or contributing tithes and offerings.
When we ultimately receive Christ, His position in our life is often challenged by people or things in a way that clashes with His perfect will for us. However, when we encounter challenges to our faith or commitment to Christ, we must know how to overcome them as we serve Him.
Contrary to popular belief, it’s often the things we hold dear that can challenge our surrender to Jesus Christ. For example, our wealth, as mentioned in Matthew 19:20-21, or our family and close relationships, as highlighted in Exodus 32:29, may stand between us and our growth in Christ. Other potential challenges may include our personal goals and desires.
Until we recognize that Jesus Christ’s authority and His voice must have precedence over any other voices we’ve followed throughout our lives, it will be challenging to fully embrace our salvation journey of serving Him.
Being out and about for Christ also includes contributing to the Kingdom of God through service and worship. God, as our loving Father, not only provides for our daily needs but also grants us wisdom. He uses times of prosperity to prepare us for times of need, as seen in Genesis 41:28-36. Giving can be challenging because it may seem like God always asks us to give during inconvenient times. However, when God calls us to give, He generously blesses us in return.
Luke 16:9 illustrates the mindset Jesus wants His followers to adopt: using our resources selflessly to win souls for the Kingdom of God.
This not only garners favor among people on Earth but also accumulates treasures of eternal value in God’s Kingdom. Being out and about also means treating people well, even when we don’t immediately benefit from them. We may wonder, “Out and about but where?” Our natural inclination is to move away from crisis situations, but wisdom in crisis involves listening to where God wants us to be.
When God instructs us to stay in a crisis, He equips us to thrive, often to the point of stirring jealousy in those who sought solutions outside of God. Our plans should be a means to God and not represent an end in themselves (Proverbs 16:9).
In conclusion, being out and about calls us to invest in the Kingdom of God. As the Bible says, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Safeguarding our hearts, as advised in Proverbs 4:23, entails investing our treasures in matters of God. This is the key to being good stewards of the resources in our lives, submitting them to God. Advancing the Kingdom of God is the most significant investment we can ever make.
